Fate of Empires
by RingPrincess
Summary: A more serious look at the world of Tenchi Muyo and how Tenchi chooses and what is really going on. OVA timeline, after Mantsu No Eve Chapter Eight & Epilogue: Conversations leads to decisions and the end of a tale or just a beginning?
1. Chapter One

A/N Tenchi Muyo! is owned by AIC and Pioneer and not by me. (ending dry and dull disclaimer)  
  
The ideas in this story are mine though and if you'd like to use or borrow them, contact me first at ring_princess@hotmail.com or ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
:thoughts:  
  
:: mental speech ::  
  
"normal speech"  
  
*dates*  
  
**major time passes  
  
--minor time passes  
  
Tenchi Muyo Saga One: Fate of Empires   
  
"The Beginning"  
  
By RingPrincess  
  
*40,000 years ago*  
  
"Washu, you must destroy them. They have no morals, no civility." Tsunami pleaded.  
  
Washu just stood there watching the dimension before her.  
  
The rest of the Hall of Heaven was silent. Her brothers and sisters sat on their thrones, watching the tableau between the three queens.  
  
Tokimi sighed. Washu was going to be stubborn.  
  
"Washu, I know they are your children, but they must go," she added in support of Tsunami. The other gods and goddesses just nodded.  
  
"You do not know them as I do," Washu stated as simply as possible.  
  
"I am afraid sister, that even you don't know your own creations," Tokimi remarked scathingly.  
  
Tsunami looked at Tokimi in a bid to hush her, they were not going to get Washu to see reason with harsh words and sarcasm. However, they were getting nowhere with reason itself.  
  
Washu reached out and touched the recently formed dimension again.   
  
She smiled as she felt her power create something new.   
  
The other two sisters looked at each other worriedly. Yet, they could not stop her; they all may be queens but Washu was the eldest, the first-born, the queen mother even.  
  
"Washu you must stop, you will destroy all we worked to create," Tsunami pleaded again.  
  
Washu looked sharply up at her sister and Tsunami shuddered, it was if Washu could see right through her.  
  
Washu cocked her head to the side. They were a study of contrasts, these three sisters.   
  
Tsunami had her long sky blue hair in two ponytails that touched the floor. She wore royal robes of the styling of her people, the Jurains. Her red-pink eyes looked at her sister with concern and worry. Washu frowned. She foresaw a great empire from her sister's people.  
  
Tokimi grimaced as Washu's gaze turned to her, and Tokimi summoned her powers to defend herself; Washu was irritated easily. Washu looked her up and down.  
  
Tokimi, she was an enigma of a sort. Her brown hair was held in place by a golden headpiece that looked like only two more locks of hair from her head. She had on her cheeks green leaf designs and her eyes were purple with blue instead of whites. Her clothes showed off an ample bust and a cape billowed behind her. Washu couldn't see the future of Tokimi or her people. Only Tokimi herself could hide their future from her. This caused Washu to narrow her eyes, something was wrong with her pretty little sister's head.  
  
Washu turned from them and looked down at the dimension, she reached in for the last time and expended the last bit of power she could with the time she had left. The she closed her eyes and took the time to consider one last person.  
  
Herself, Washu took time to consider herself. She took time to consider all data; it was part of what Kami-san had made her to be. She was more feline than them and her hair was a spiky red-magenta held back with a golden ribbon. Her outfit was mainly violet and also showed off an overly ample cleavage. Perhaps the strangest thing about it was the gold piece that went around her neck and met in the front of her breasts in the shape of a W. Imbedded in the W were three red-orange gems, the partial source of her power and a sign of her goddess-hood.   
  
She opened her eyes and turned back to her sisters. Tokimi had her arms crossed and Tsunami was watching with a feeling of helplessness.  
  
Washu raised a red-magenta eyebrow over an intensely green eye and smiled.  
  
"Why all these doubts? I know what I am doing."  
  
"What is that exactly?" Tokimi asked acidly.  
  
"Providing a balance little sister. I am the last to create, you understand, so I am working with a framework that you ten provided; but that doesn't mean I couldn't bend it a bit," Washu said tartly.   
  
Tokimi bristled. Even if Washu was eldest she didn't need to flaunt her status so.   
  
"What you have created Washu are monsters," she hissed.  
  
Washu merely smiled at her sister with a nod.  
  
"Yes, monsters to you and to Tsunami, but to me they are my children. They, like children, must be guided, but I have not provided that guidance yet."  
  
"Then do so," Tsunami cried.  
  
Washu shook her head sadly.   
  
"One day that guidance will come, it would have come sooner, but you sisters delayed me during my creation and the door to that dimension closed to purely mortal creations. I only had time to create a demi-goddess to watch over them and direct them. She has all she needs."  
  
The sisters stood there is shock, amazed at what they had done.  
  
Washu murmured down at the picture of the dimension before them, even now the newly minted creatures were going about their lives.  
  
"One day that guidance will come . . ."  
  
**  
  
*20,000 years ago*  
  
Tokimi gathered her forces and released them at Tsunami's alliance. Tokimi laughed in delight as her demi-gods and those true gods and goddesses that supported her, tried to make waste of Tsunami's forces.  
  
Washu stood to the side and watched her two sisters fight with sadness, five gods against five gods. Tsunami was holding out valiantly and Tokimi refused to give up. They were too evenly matched, each waited for the others first mistake.   
  
"Washu, sister," Tokimi's voice was as smooth as honey. "Join me and we will rule all this dimension together as we should."  
  
"Washu don't!" Tsunami cried, "She is only trying to trick you, as soon as you are no longer useful she will kill you." Tsunami sent a blast of power towards Tokimi's direction.  
  
Washu shook her head and sighed.   
  
"I will join neither of you. The only reason why this dimension even exists is because we created it together."  
  
The Hall of Heaven was a mess, thrones overturned, trees dead and dying, tapestries torn and the floor jagged and uneven. The only pristine thing in the entire room was the Great Throne of Washu and the dimension cube in front of her.  
  
She looked into the cube and watched as the people in it copied their creators and fought for supremacy. Her people, the Nekoians as they called themselves had sought out advice from their goddess as they always did before going to war. Washu's mouth twisted, she had told them. "Don't get involved."  
  
The demi-goddess she had created had only repeated the prophecy and the crystal ships of the Nekoian Empire stayed put. Washu grimaced as Jurain Tree-ships and Qualeon Warships battled against the ships of Tokimi's supporters. Washu sighed. She wouldn't and couldn't intervene.  
  
The war waged in heaven and in the dimension.   
  
When Washu stood and kneeled, time stopped and Kami-san intervened himself. The gods and goddesses cried in fear as they felt themselves being thrown from heaven, with what was left of their powers they fled to the planets that they themselves had created. The dimension cube surged with power and soon all that was left was Washu and Kami-san in the empty chamber.  
  
Kami-san looked down kindly at the goddess before him.  
  
"So Washu, you wouldn't go one way or the other." He had taken the form of an old, fatherly looking man.  
  
Washu looked up at him from the kneeling position boldly and gave a small shrug.   
  
"You could have stopped it with a word Washu. Why didn't you?" Kami-san stared down at her perplexed, Washu was by far the most clever of his gods and therefore was the most dangerous. "Perhaps, you wanted to be the only goddess in heaven."  
  
Washu gave a small smile and shook her head slowly.  
  
"Have you a reason Washu? You must, for you, of all of them do nothing without a reason."  
  
"Yes, Kami-san. I had a reason."  
  
"Care to tell me what it is, Little Washu."  
  
Washu shrugged, and stood slowly. Kami-san made no move to stop her. She walked over to the dimension cube and looked into it. She watched as each of her brothers and sisters made to their planets.  
  
"You created us without many things Father. I have learned much from watching our creations, and for my goddess-hood I cannot figure out how they survive. Yet, they are much more full than we are. They make us look like two-dimensional caricatures in a four-dimensional world."  
  
"Is that why you did not step in, so they could learn what you did?"  
  
"No."  
  
Kami-san snorted. But his golden eyes sparkled with inner amusement.  
  
Washu sighed and proceeded to explain.  
  
"There was no point in stepping in. Tokimi would have used me and then tried to kill me. Tsunami would have taken my help then held me to the fact that I owed her my throne for the rest of eternity, and she would not have killed Tokimi and this would have started all over again at a later date."  
  
Kami-san smiled and nodded at her reasoning.  
  
"So tell me Washu, what do you want?"  
  
"Heaven holds nothing for me now father. Maybe one day we will all return here, older and wiser, but until then I want to go there."  
  
She pointed to a particular part of the dimensional cube. The dimension began to zoom in and focus on a planet.  
  
"The Royal Science Academy." Kami-san murmured.  
  
"Send me father, without my gem powers and without my memories. I want to remember none of the War of Heaven, here I can learn why these beings do the things they do. It will be quite educational."  
  
Kami-san smiled.  
  
"I will miss you, my Little Washu."  
  
Washu gave a lecherous smile at him and watched as he turned into a young man. Not her father only her lover. He was a young man with spiky black hair and the same feline eyes as Washu only his were amber.  
  
The young Kami wrapped his arms around his first creation and felt her hands run through his black hair, before settling around his neck. They shared one last kiss, one last embrace before separation.  
  
When they parted she stood in front of him, brave, passionate and defiant.  
  
"I love you Kami," she whispered as she held up a small vial filled with fluid.  
  
He did not ask what she was going to do with it. He smiled at her and promptly used his powers to do as she had asked him. Washu disappeared into the dimensional cube and was safely sent on her way to the Royal Science Academy.  
  
The Hall of Heaven stood empty, except for a young Kami. He turned absently from the cube and with a wave of his hands set the Hall to rights.  
  
Once he was done he went and sat in Washu's chair. His chin rested on his hands as he watched the dimensional cube.  
  
He only broke the silence once. And that was to whisper one last testament.  
  
"I love you Washu."  
  
**  
  
*5,048 years ago*  
  
A very pregnant Washu waddled around the office of her Science Academy Lab. Only for this experiment had she resumed her adult form that she had abandoned 15,000 years ago. After she lost her . . .   
  
Washu grimaced she would not finish that thought. She sat down on her purple cushion with a sigh and promptly summoned another cushion to prop up her swollen feet and legs. Ryoko would come any day now.  
  
Washu patted her stomach and smiled the luminous smile of the one who knows something that no one else does.  
  
"I don't even know you yet, my little Ryoko, but I love you . . ."  
  
The child within her stirred and went back to quietness.  
  
Washu smiled, "Soon, my little Ryoko, soon you will be with mommy."  
  
--  
  
*5,031 years ago*  
  
Kagato smiled in at Washu in her crystal. Ryoko was cowering at his feet.  
  
"Get up and stop quaking," he snarled.  
  
Seventeen-year-old Ryoko complied with alacrity.  
  
"Now, my pet, we shall begin your real training and vocation."  
  
With that he viscously took over Ryoko's body.  
  
Ryoko had only time to scream . . .   
  
"MOMMEEEEEE . . ."  
  
**  
  
*701 years ago*  
  
The ship form of Ryo-ohki crashed into the island group of Japan on Earth, Jurain Colony Planet 0315. The young woman inside didn't even seem fazed by the abrupt jolt that shattered her ship around her and created a deep crater in a swampy area near mountains.  
  
The whimpering mreows of the ship did not seem to make it to the girl's ears as she teleported out of the main cabin and landed on a crystal that stuck out of the earth nearby. Her cyan hair was tangled and the color of her eyes was obscured by a red glow. She wore a battle suit of red and black that was torn in places. She licked her lips in anticipation of the battle to come.  
  
Another spaceship hovered over Earthen soil and a young man with black hair and maroon eyes was teleported out of his ship.  
  
"Space Pirate Ryoko, you have no farther to run, it ends here," he cried.  
  
Ryoko cocked her hips and placed her right arm on one and insolently lit an energy sword from a ball of energy she created in her hand.  
  
The young man narrowed his eyes and lit his own sword. If that was the way she wanted it, so be it.  
  
She charged, the three gems on her wrists and neck glowing brightly.  
  
He parried her charge deftly and the battle truly began.  
  
Slash, kick, parry, cut, dodge . . . on and on it went.  
  
Both combatants were getting tired, their swords crossed and locked. Eye to eye they strained, Ryoko made kissing noises at him and he pushed against her sword harder. He pushed her away and before she could recover he put his sword through her throat.  
  
Ryoko's eyes widened and the redness faded from them.  
  
"Yosho, help me . . ." she gasped. "Please . . ." She slumped against the sword, defeated.  
  
Yosho gasped and quickly grasped the situation. So the rumors had been true. She was just under control. None of what was attributed to her was her fault, now he couldn't kill her. She was innocent, a victim, just as those that she attacked were victims.  
  
His eyes narrowed and he felt the power of the Tenchi-ken take her gems from her. He wrenched the Tenchi-ken from her throat and she fell to the ground unconscious.  
  
Yosho stood there considering his options. He kneeled down and used his Jurain power to put her to sleep and that was all he was able to do before he slumped on the ground next to her, exhausted as well.  
  
The spaceship tree Funaho landed and protected the hunter and hunted, until Yosho had enough energy to finish the task set before him.  
  
--  
  
Yosho kneeled near the entrance of a cave he had found in the nearby mountains. The tree Funaho rested in the middle of a small lake nestled between them.  
  
He turned his head towards the tree as if it was speaking to him.  
  
"Yes, I know we must contact Jurai and mother, Funaho, but not yet."  
  
A moment of silence as Funaho's leaves rustled in a non-existent breeze.  
  
"We shouldn't be here long enough for you to take root." Yosho turned his head back to the opening of the cave. "However, we must some way make sure no one releases Ryoko from the cave until she has had time to heal in body and soul."  
  
Prisms of light lanced from the tree's branches lanced the forest floor.  
  
"Oh, now you're saying that you wouldn't mind staying on this planet, even if it does mean taking root."  
  
There was more silence in the little clearing.  
  
"Oh, make up your mind." Yosho's voice was slightly annoyed. "Here, I am, arguing with a tree."  
  
Funaho rustled her leaves heavily.  
  
"Yes, yes, you are more than just a tree, and I of all people should know better." Yosho consoled.  
  
Yosho stood up and walked into the cave and through the small walkway he had created, ahead he could see the glow of lichen and hear the drip of the natural spring. Here was where he had put Ryoko until a suitable time could be made for her reawakening.  
  
"I know that this isn't the best place but it is the only place I could find," Yosho told the floating woman. He kneeled next to her and cupped her cheek in his hand. "I wonder what you are really like behind all those masks." The body made no reply and Yosho stood up and walked back out.  
  
Yosho sealed the cave with Jurain power and with the Tenchi-ken made the appropriate carvings in the rocks to make the place sacred. Someday he would return here and let her out. Hopefully after whoever was controlling Ryoko was dealt with and Yosho's own demons were put to rest.  
  
He went out and hopped from stone to stone till he reached his tree and sat underneath it. Yosho dropped his head on his hands and began to think, finding a peace and solitude on the planet of his mother that he had not found anywhere on the planet Jurai.  
  
In the end Yosho did not return to Jurai and instead stayed on earth and was strangely, happy.  
  
--  
  
A young Ayeka paced frantically within the palace corridors outside the communications room. She was twenty-two now and according to Jurai law wasn't fully a woman yet, but the beautiful girl wasn't worrying about that this particular moment.  
  
She stopped in front of the door to the communication center and glared at it.  
  
:Why doesn't he call,: her mind wailed. Ayeka Jurai struggled with her infamous anger as she restrained herself from beating the door down. She had been barred from the communications room a week ago.  
  
Empress Misaki watched her daughter from farther down the corridor and tried not to laugh at the ridiculous sight of the First Crown Princess glaring at a door. However, she couldn't and began to giggle helplessly.  
  
Ayeka's temper flared and she whirled to give the person who dared mock her the sharp side of her tongue. However, one couldn't upbraid one's own mother.  
  
Ayeka sighed and put her ire on a back burner for the moment.  
  
"Hello mother," she said resignedly.  
  
Misaki controlled her giggles and took the few steps forward to wrap her daughter in a strong hug.  
  
"Mommy, let go," Ayeka gasped, blushing as she said it. Misaki let go reluctantly. Hugs to and from her daughter had been scarce more and more lately.  
  
"He still hasn't called, has he?" Misaki asked sympathetically.  
  
Ayeka almost broke down, but gathered what little dignity she had left and shook her head in a sharp negative.  
  
"He won't even tell me where he goes anymore, mommy," Ayeka cried. The mommy part was slightly muffled as Misaki grabbed her in a gentler hug. "It's been fourteen years."  
  
"He'll come back, little Ayeka, he always does," Misaki soothed, but she knew she was lying. Yosho had never felt welcome on Jurai.  
  
"If he's not back next year, I'm going after him," Ayeka declared.  
  
"Ayeka . . ."  
  
"Why shouldn't I? Next year I'll be twenty-three and a woman."   
  
"Ayeka, we don't even know where he is."  
  
"I'm going, and I don't care."  
  
Misaki paused before she said the next thing. Ayeka was determined and what Ayeka wanted, Ayeka got.  
  
"We'll see," she said.  
  
--  
  
*700 years ago*  
  
Ayeka brushed her hair behind her shoulders. She smiled at herself in the mirror. Yes, now she was a woman and today she would go find her beloved, Yosho.  
  
Even the thought of his name made her look dreamy. She hadn't seen him in fifteen years, not since he had left to chase that space pirate, Ryoko!   
  
Ayeka gritted her teeth. If only . . .  
  
Not that it mattered. Today she was taking Ryu-oh and leaving. She would find Yosho or die trying.  
  
There was a knock on her door.  
  
Ayeka turned to face it, taking a few steps away from the mirror.  
  
"Come in."  
  
It was Sasami.   
  
"Hiya Ayeka." Sasami smiled. Sasami always smiled.   
  
"Hi Sasami." Ayeka smiled back, the girl was infectious. "So what did you want to see me about?"  
  
Sasami began to rub her foot on the floor. "Oh, not much really."  
  
Ayeka raised an eyebrow. "Really?"  
  
"Well, I was wondering," she began slowly. "CouldIcomewithyouwhenyougo?" The words tumbled out on top of each other.  
  
Ayeka froze in shock. She hadn't thought anybody had noticed her preparations of Ryu-oh.  
  
:Was I that transparent, that even Sasami could see I was getting ready to leave. I thought I was doing better this time, I really did.: Ayeka mentally grimaced at the 'other' times she had run away, unsuccessfully.  
  
"Sasami, wouldn't you rather stay here with mommy and be safe? And grow up in the palace like you deserve?"  
  
Sasami shook her head emphatically. "No one would bother a Jurain ship, Ayeka. Can I please come?" Sasami made puppy dog eyes at her sister.  
  
They worked, Ayeka found herself saying yes and including her sister in on all her plans. Somehow, this time she ran away to find her brother, and was successful. And then again she had never included Sasami before.  
  
**  
  
*6 years ago*  
  
Mihoshi Kuramitsu, Galaxy Police Captain, 1st class, stared down the gun sights of the Yukinojo and centered her shot.  
  
"Fire" she said tersely and the plasma cannon recoiled. A streak of white flashed between the GP ship and the ship she was pursuing. There was a slight glow to the engine compartments before they died.  
  
Duo Hamikasu cursed the day that he ever crossed paths with Mihoshi and his fingers flashed as he coasted through space.  
  
"Pirate, Thief, Mercenary, Bounty Hunter," a smooth soprano voice that sounded somewhat mechanical flowed from the ships com speakers. "Quite the list of charges you have Duo."  
  
His fingers quit moving and he began to return cannon fire. No torpedoes, they were too expensive. He stared at the screens and watched as Mihoshi expertly began to evade his shots. He began to type again.  
  
Mihoshi gave a grim smile. :Who does he think he's messing with?: She piloted the ship with one hand and began to choose targets with the other, he couldn't even change course and that made him a sitting duck.  
  
Almost casually, Duo observed, Mihoshi was picking off his cannons. The wire frame that represented his ship was slowly becoming darker as systems failed.  
  
He had one last card to play.  
  
"I surrender Captain Kuramitsu."  
  
"I accept your surrender Hamikasu, prepare to be boarded." Mihoshi's voice was cool.  
  
Duo sat there and sweated. He watched as the Yukinojo moved in closer . . .  
  
There, that was perfect. He slammed a fist down on one button.   
  
TORPEDO LAUNCHED flashed on the screen.  
  
Mihoshi narrowed her eyes, at eighteen she was no amateur and this was an old trick. She fired a canon at the torpedo and it exploded raining shrapnel on the hull.   
  
:SHRAPNEL: her mind screamed. She initiated auto-docking procedures. Whatever happened to her ship, getting Duo Hamikasu was worth it. :Exiled zor:   
  
The 'exiled zor' was staring at the screen in shock. :She's still coming!: The shrapnel was ripping her outer hull to shreds and she was still initiating a boarding lock. He cursed himself for a fool and realized belatedly that he should have aimed for the docking hatch, for that was one of the few places not affected by his missile.  
  
Small lasers shot from the Yukinojo's cannons and tried to clear some of the debris, a few were jammed and exploded on themselves, but overall the strategy was partially successful.  
  
With a screech of metal the two ships force docked. Duo grabbed his pistol and headed into the passageways of his ship. The last thing he did before he left was start the auto-destruct and self-protection programs. He ran towards his shuttle.  
  
Of course, Mihoshi was already there.  
  
She was leaning up against the hatch of the shuttle, calmly examining her gun. She pointed it at him with barely a thought.  
  
"Drop the weapon Hamikasu." her voice was cold.  
  
"It really is Hamika now, sweetheart." He leveled his weapon at her in response.  
  
Mihoshi raised an eyebrow and fired between his feet. "That was your only warning."  
  
"Oh, I thought when you fired your plasma canons at me was my only warning." His voice was sardonic, playing to the courage and smoothness he just didn't have at the moment. But hiding his fear he faced her down.  
  
Nerves were taut, and tensions were high. Perhaps that was why neither of them felt it.  
  
"Which reminds me Duo, you broke surrender, that should add another two to five years to your term," Mihoshi said sweetly.  
  
"Glad your satisfied," he grunted. He tried to fire and found he couldn't. :What the hell!:   
  
He saw Mihoshi's finger tighten on the trigger, :Oh, shit.: He began to dive out of the way, expecting to feel heat at any moment.  
  
The shot never came.  
  
Mihoshi's gun clattered to the floor and his was lying just out of reach.  
  
He rolled to his feet, prepared to even go to hand to hand combat. But Mihoshi was just standing there, dazed. Duo stood up slowly.  
  
"Mihoshi," he paused. :Why am I concerned?: "You okay?" He took a couple steps back for safeties sake.  
  
Mihoshi shook her head. :What in the world is happening to me? Am I going nuts?: "I'm fine." She said tersely. :I'm supposed to arrest him, so now do it.: "You, Duo HamikaSU are. . ." :I can't.: she cried inwardly.  
  
"Are what, Captain KuramitSU?" he asked archly.  
  
Mihoshi felt a flash of irritation. It took her one second to notice that she wasn't fully angry with this man anymore.  
  
"You are infuriating," she bit out.  
  
"What?! Isn't it supposed to be. . . 'Are under arrest for the capture and despoiling of one hundred or so ships, banks and planets. For breaking and entering, exceeding the speed limit, murder, being an unlicensed bounty hunter and oh yeah, breaking arrest?"  
  
"Well, there is that too." Mihoshi looked him up and down. :He really is handsome. Oh all right, down right gorgeous . . . Hey wait, I'm supposed to arrest him, remember. Not fall for him.:   
  
Duo turned a bit red under her scrutiny. "Um, Captain, if you are going to arrest me, get on with it."  
  
Mihoshi turned beet red and looked away. Duo took the chance and dived across the floor at her taking her down.  
  
Mihoshi's training kicked in and against her instincts she began to fight this man. However, he had the advantage this time and she wound up looking straight into his large green eyes, her ponytail had fallen out and her blonde hair was splayed around her head.  
  
Duo was panting as he successfully kept the block that kept Mihoshi from going anywhere. He shook some red hair out of his eyes and looked down at his captive. :By the gods, she's beautiful.:   
  
It was about that time when both of them realized what had happened.  
  
"Lifebond," he cursed.  
  
Mihoshi closed her eyes and groaned.   
  
Knowing neither of them could hurt the other intentionally. Duo rolled himself off her and onto the deck of the ship.  
  
"It figures that I would lifebond with a criminal." Mihoshi moaned.  
  
"You know what they say about the opposites thing," Duo muttered.  
  
Mihoshi gave a bark of bitter laughter. "Guess we should have paid attention."  
  
She rolled to her side to look at him better. The Hamikasu house was one of the few houses that didn't look like they had a perpetual tan. So compared to most of her people he was quite pale, but he was handsome.  
  
Mihoshi tentatively reached a hand out and touched were his heart would be. His hand came up and gently cupped hers and held it there. Both were lost in their private thoughts.  
  
In the end, Mihoshi confiscated his ship and took him in. She also applied and got a desk job at HQ so she would be near him. But events out of their control conspired against them when his friends broke him out and took him away.  
  
Mihoshi lost her grip on her career after that, and most of herself. The force gradually forgot the rising star that had been Mihoshi. And Mihoshi, well Mihoshi chose to forget.  
  
--  
  
*2 years ago*  
  
Seventeen-year-old Tenchi Masaki slipped through the woods towards the demons cave. He was a handsome youth, with kind brown eyes and spiky short black hair. A thin braid ran down his back and it was constantly swaying as Tenchi kept looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was following.  
  
Not that he was able to tell that his grandfather, Katsuhito did.  
  
Tenchi convulsively gripped the keys to the gate that always got in the way of his explorations tighter and scrambled the last few yards to the gate.  
  
The keys were a perfect fit and the turned with little protest. Strange, it was almost if someone had oiled them in preparation for this day. Tenchi shook his head. He had no time for such thoughts. That was if he wanted to get to explore the cave and not get in trouble with his grandfather. There was no telling what punishments the old man would make him do.  
  
Tenchi went inside.  
  
Katsuhito stayed behind a nearby tree and smiled in anticipation. He nodded to the apparition of the young woman who grinned back before disappearing. Katsuhito began to count down how many seconds it would take to get to the inner cave and awake the "demon."   
  
Katsuhito waited.  
  
Tenchi came out running, and screaming.  
  
Katsuhito frowned, what in hell had gone wrong? He didn't have to wait long to find out.  
  
Ryoko came out of the cave and settled on the ground, a mummy, a parody of her former self. If she had been able too, he could tell she would be crying.  
  
Katsuhito cursed himself for a fool, already she was regenerating, but the damage had been done and her sorrow was sure to turn to anger.   
  
"I'm sorry Ryoko. I should have done it differently," he whispered sorrowfully and headed swiftly back to the shrine.   
  
Ryoko sat in front of the cave and used the energy she drew from the living things around her to return to herself and cursed herself also. She should have known that it would turn out this way, but of course her spirit had never left her body for a long amount of time.  
  
She would make it up to Tenchi, he'd see. No, she wouldn't remain a dried out mummy in his eyes.   
  
Ryoko held out a hand and captured the singular solitary tear that escaped her regenerated eyes.  
  
She'd show him, he'd see her as a woman, or she would die trying.   
  
-So the carnival began-  
  
--  
  
END CHAPTER!  
  
Note: Calling someone a zor on Mihoshi's home world is like calling someone a dog or son of a bitch here on earth. Now a zor is actually something more like a pig, but has a few doggish attributes, and is reviled because it is not exactly a clean animal or even a useful one. (But enough cultural lessons)  
  
Questions and comments should be sent to one of the emails below! Check out my websites... and tell me what you think please.  
  
RingPrincess  
  
ring_princess@hotmail.com   
  
ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/ringprincess/index.html  
  
http://www.thetenchireviewer.net  
  
http://forums.thetenchireviewer.net 


	2. Chapter Two

A/N Tenchi Muyo! is owned by AIC and Pioneer and not by me. (ending dry and dull disclaimer)  
  
The ideas in this story are mine though and if you'd like to use or borrow them, contact me first at ring_princess@hotmail.com or ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
Tenchi Muyo Saga One: Fate of Empires  
  
"Secrets"  
  
By RingPrincess  
  
One week after Mayuka returns; The Present, sometime in April  
  
Ryoko hovered around Mayuka's crib. Watching the child sleep. It was early in the morning and even Sasami wasn't up yet. However, as usual Ryoko didn't care about the time. She was wishing . . .  
  
:I wish that this little one would call me Mom,: Ryoko sighed mentally. Who was she kidding? Her, a mother, she remembered the disaster it was when Taro came over. Imagine, not putting water in the formula. Ryoko grimaced in embarrassment, if they ever knew the REAL reason for that mistake. :Hell, I've killed more babies, than I ever cared for,: was her next thought, and one she instantly tried to turn off. She stared down at Mayuka, but saw every child's face she had ever murdered overlaid on top of hers.   
  
Ryoko closed her eyes. A tear trickled down her cheek and dropped onto Mayuka's face. Ryoko reached out and gently wiped it away.   
  
The sun rose, it was going to be a beautiful spring day. Ryoko for one moment felt hope that today would be different; and well, wonderful.   
  
Sasami was already busy making breakfast in the kitchen. She was humming quietly to herself and Ryo-ohki was perched on top of her head, watching avidly.  
  
Ryoko entered the kitchen quietly as not to disturb a master chef. She went to the fridge in hope of finding some already prepared formula there, however it was not to be.  
  
"Umm, Sasami," Ryoko said quietly.  
  
Sasami whirled and Ryo-ohki flew off the top of her head. Sasami's eyes were wide and she was trying not to scream. When she saw that it was only Ryoko she began to calm down, and was soon her bouncy self again.   
  
"Oh, Ryoko, I didn't hear you come in."  
  
Ryo-ohki picked herself off the floor and bounced up to Sasami's shoulder.  
  
"Sasami, could I ask you a favor?"  
  
"Uh-huh," Sasami said over her shoulder, as she turned back to the food.  
  
"Do you think you could make up some formula for Mayuka?" Ryoko asked a bit shame-faced.  
  
Sasami turned slowly. :She made formula when Taro was here, why does she need help now?: Her face was bent in confusion.   
  
"Or maybe you could show me how?" Ryoko asked, seeing the look on Sasami's face.  
  
Sasami was curious. "Ryoko, you made it when Taro was here."  
  
"But, this is a different kind and I want to get it right," Ryoko said desperately. If Sasami didn't help her she might just have to tell her secret.  
  
Sasami relented, seeing that Ryoko didn't want to talk about what was troubling her so much that she had to ask for help making formula. "Sure, Ryoko, I'll help."  
  
The relief and happiness on her friends face was worth not knowing.  
  
Sasami proceeded to show her how exactly to make the formula.  
  
"Now, remember Ryoko, since she's so little, she'll only need a couple of ounces," Sasami admonished as she held out the warmed and ready bottle.   
  
Ryoko nodded, "Only up to the first few marks, right."  
  
Sasami grinned. "Yep, that's it exactly. Have fun!" She turned back to her cooking, none the worse for the few moments lost.  
  
She didn't hear Ryoko glide out of the room. She didn't need to.  
  
--  
  
Tenchi stretched and yawned before opening his eyes and looking around carefully. He made sure to check every single part of the room before sitting up and getting out of bed.   
  
Of course most boys didn't do this as a part of their regular routine, but then again most boys weren't Tenchi Masaki.   
  
He was only nineteen and he already had five, count them, five different women chasing after him and one of them liked to wake him up in the morning. However, for the past week his mornings had been female, particularly Ryoko free. And if they were Ryoko free, that meant they were also Ayeka free, which meant that they were fight free. Tenchi was still wondering if it was too good to be true.  
  
He also couldn't figure out whether he missed it or not, and which part he missed the most: Ryoko, Ayeka, or the fighting.  
  
He gave up with those conjectures and proceeded to get ready for his day. After he was done, the smell of Sasami's wonderful cooking began to tempt him from the first floor.  
  
Tenchi thumped down the stairs, knowing that probably most people were up anyway. He was met by the most peculiar sight on the couch. Ryoko was feeding Mayuka. She was wearing her "mother" dress, however her hair was down and she was paying the utmost attention to the baby.  
  
"Good Morning, Lord Tenchi," came a pleasant voice from behind him.  
  
Tenchi jumped and spun.  
  
"Oh, hi, Miss Ayeka," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, sheepish for his over tight nerves.   
  
Ayeka smiled, she was on the stair above him, making her slightly taller. She was wearing her usual pink yukata with a purple sash to match her eyes and hair.  
  
Tenchi turned around and went back to plodding down the stairs. Making as much noise as possible, for who knew what Ryoko would do if she didn't hear him.  
  
"Good Morning Ryoko," he said as he came near the couch.  
  
Ryoko sent him a dazzling smile. "I didn't think you'd notice me with the Princess over there to steal your attention."  
  
Tenchi gulped. "Of course I noticed you."  
  
"Yes, your kind of hard to miss, being so large," Ayeka said snidely.  
  
Ryoko turned her head and gave a cool smile at the princess. "Did you say something?" Ryoko turned back to the baby, not even waiting for an answer.  
  
Sasami stuck her head out the door. "Oh good, Ayeka, your up. Could you go get the rest of the household for me?"   
  
Ayeka gave a glum nod, glaring at the back of Ryoko's head.  
  
"Good morning Tenchi," the twelve-year-old princess said brightly.  
  
Tenchi, anxious to get out of the firing zone, retreated to the kitchen to compliment Sasami on her cooking skills.  
  
Ryoko only sighed, and looking down at the baby, the sigh turned into a small gentle smile. It was a smile that no one in the house but Mayuka had the privilege of seeing. If Ryoko could help it, they never would, except maybe Tenchi.  
  
"You are so beautiful, little May," she murmured before she leaned over and kissed the feeding babies brow. :She is so soft and so sweet. I hope she grows up to be like Sasami and looks past what I was,: she thought.   
  
--  
  
Mihoshi tossed and turned, knowing instinctively that it was early morning and not wanting to get up to face another day of yelling by Kiyone.  
  
"MIHOSHI," Kiyone screamed. "GET UP."  
  
Mihoshi rolled over and looked up at her blearily.  
  
Ayeka sighed at the sight. "Breakfast is ready you two."  
  
"Breakfast." Mihoshi said excitedly as she bounded out of bed. Kiyone growled. :She's never good for anything without her first cup of coffee,: Mihoshi muttered mentally. Then giggled out loud at her thoughts.  
  
"MIHOSHI!"  
  
"I'm coming, I'm coming," she muttered as she struggled into her clothes.  
  
Mihoshi tumbled out the door in her 'normal' klutzy grace and somehow made it down to breakfast on time. :If anything,: she thought. :I am never late where food is concerned.:  
  
--  
  
The greatest scientific genius in the universe yawned and scrubbed her face with her fingers.  
  
:I really need to find a way to get more done on less sleep,: Washu thought. Sometimes she shuddered to think all that she could be missing while she was asleep. Who knew what discovery could be made with those wasted hours.  
  
There was a knock on the door, and the crab jingled.  
  
"Yes, Miss Ayeka," Washu said from her cushion in the middle of the gardenlike lab.  
  
Ayeka swallowed her discomfort and cleared her throat. "Sasami sent me to tell you that breakfast is ready."  
  
"I'll be right along." Washu waved a hand at her. Ayeka seeing an escape route quickly exited the lab.  
  
--  
  
Breakfast was delicious.  
  
--  
  
Tsunami sat and pondered in the middle of the tree ship-yard of Jurai. She really had no choice but to do this, for she was bound to the tree and had been for the last 20,000 years.   
  
Tsunami had things to do of course, no goddess didn't. However, she had deliberately put aside the thousands of little nitpicky details that her schedule had been made up of lately and pondered.  
  
She didn't ponder the universe, or the meaning of life or any other such nonsense. She just let her mind roam and choose its own subjects.  
  
Her most pressing concern at the moment however was her brothers and sisters. Especially Tokimi, what was going on in her sister's head? Tsunami knew that Tokimi was active, with her demi-god servant D-3, somewhere in the galaxy.  
  
Tsunami considered the possibilities and her options on counter-acting those possibilities. However, even Tsunami didn't have enough information to go on, and until she did, she would have to wait.   
  
Tsunami's mind grounded to a halt. :Enough of this.: She turned back to her work. Even the details were important and her plan was paramount in her mind, and it must stay on schedule.  
  
There would be no more pondering for the goddess Tsunami.  
  
--  
  
An idyllic week passed. Well, idyllic for the Masaki household. There was the minimum of fights and the baby was wonderful and most noticed that Ryoko seemed to be her primary caregiver. Tenchi trained and went to school. He was a senior and next year he would be heading off to college.   
  
Yes, life was going extremely well for the Masaki household.  
  
--  
  
In the past 20,000 years the Great Hall of Heaven hadn't changed much. The floors, walls and ceiling were as pristine as the day Kami had put them to rights. Dust was a stranger to this place.  
  
The trees and other plants were mildly overgrown, as if someone had just left them alone, but strangely no weeds showed through the flowers. However the great place was empty, achingly empty, and the absolute silence was overwhelming.  
  
Not even a whisper heralded Kami's coming. There was no fanfare, heraldry or bowing as this Almighty Father of the Gods entered the Hall he had created as their home.  
  
Kami floated across the room and settled himself back into Washu's great throne. And to a just arriving observer, it would look as if he had never left. He stared into the dimension cube and his golden eyes flickered from star to star. Instantly knowing what went on at each one, each star a hub for a scheming god or goddess, major and minor.  
  
They set their rivaling plans in motion while demi-gods and goddesses did most of the legwork.  
  
:Is it time?: Kami questioned himself. His attention straying to the one planet that the believed galaxy unimportant, but to Kami's eyes was the greatest of them all.   
  
Earth.  
  
Its green, blue and brown sphere filled the cube. White clouds swirled over its oceans and lands. Kami gazed at it, hanging there for a few moments, debating whether he should look.  
  
He gave into the temptation and checked in on the inhabitants.  
  
"Is it time?" he asked the empty hall, his words echoed eerily back at him.  
  
He watched for a few infinite moments.  
  
He grimaced, and shook his head. It was truly past time.  
  
His finger stretched out and the universe stopped for one collective breathe . . .  
  
--  
  
Ryoko had just put Mayuka down for a nap when for no apparent reason she fell over unconscious on the floor of the nursery.  
  
May's screaming was enough to bring the entire household running.  
  
--  
  
Washu was confused. There was no reason at all for Ryoko to just keel over like that. :None at all, she's stronger than that and in perfect health.:  
  
All of Washu's instruments said the same thing. Physically, she's perfectly fine, all systems functioning at optimal level. But there she was, lying on one of Washu's regenerating beds in the middle of an empty lab.  
  
Washu tenderly touched her daughter's face and held back a sob. "I will help you, my little Ryoko, I swear it. Now if only you could tell me what's wrong." She said, voice strangled. Her mind was screaming however at her daughter. ::What Happened!? Why are you like this?::  
  
Ryoko didn't hear; even the link wasn't working. And Washu was struggling to admit to herself that she was scared, no correct that, terrified.  
  
Ryo-ohki gave out a pitiful mew and rubbed her face on Ryoko's chin, desperate to wake her up. Ryo-ohki had refused to leave with the others when Washu had kicked them out of the lab. Citing a need for space to work and nobody to interfere. In reality it was to cover up that she didn't have a clue on what to do. The cabbit had curled herself into a ball on Ryoko's chest and dug her claws in a remarkable show of loyalty. Even Sasami's valiant efforts to remove her had been in vain.  
  
Washu gave a sad smile at the sight and went back to work with her instruments. Desperate to figure out what had happened and what she could do about it. Her laptop appeared and she began to quickly type, machinery appearing at her command.  
  
A tiara like object appeared and settled on Ryoko's forehead, two nodes contacted her temples, a screen appeared that held wavelike patterns with bar graphs next to it, constantly moving.  
  
Washu gave them the utmost attention. Her daughter's brainwaves were moving erratically and speedily.   
  
With a click of a button, the screen became permanent.   
  
A few more commands and a machine appeared at the head of the bed, it was tube-like in nature and austere white. Ryoko's head was carefully maneuvered into it.  
  
Washu frowned. :Scanning your pretty little brain isn't going to help me much, Ryoko. Oh, how I wish that you'd just let me run some tests on you once we were free. The files I have just aren't current, and how can I help if . . .: Washu took a deep breathe, holding back tears and waving off doubts. She set the machine in motion.  
  
She felt helpless. :I have no clue what is right or wrong with your brain pattern anymore Ryoko. I have nothing to go by, nothing.: She held back a wave of despair and looked for any grain of hope she could find.  
  
The machine whirred softly and another screen hovered in the air, Washu began to watch this one intently. All she could do was pray and hope for the best.  
  
--  
  
Meanwhile, the family had all gathered in the living room. All that is except for Tenchi, who was at school and Noboyuki, who was at work.   
  
Kiyone paced nervously while Mihoshi sobbed on the coach. Katsuhito sat there and meditated and Ayeka was trying to comfort Sasami and Mayuka at the same time. She wasn't having much success with either of them.   
  
Suddenly Mihoshi looked up.  
  
"Shouldn't someone call Tenchi at school?" she gulped. Tear tracks visible down her face.   
  
They all looked at her sharply. :Hey, I'm not the idiot I appear,: Mihoshi thought angrily, but the words never made it past thought.  
  
Katsuhito nodded. "Good thinking Mihoshi. I'll go do so."  
  
Mihoshi blushed a bit. :If he only knew.:  
  
Sasami pushed herself off the coach. "I think I'll go make some tea and warm some sake too. If anyone wants it."  
  
They all paled at the mention of Ryoko's favorite drink and Mihoshi started to sob again. Mayuka whimpered, not fully understanding what was wrong and wanting Ryoko or Tenchi to come and comfort her.  
  
Kiyone watched as Katsuhito picked up the phone.  
  
--  
  
Tenchi was having a pretty normal day at school. Each class was going as usual and he was pretty bored. :This is why I dropped out,: he thought inanely.   
  
"Mr. Tushiyuki, would you send Masaki Tenchi to the office please. And tell him to bring his things, he has a phone call."  
  
There was a general chorus of oohs from the class.   
  
"Got a girlfriend Masaki?" one of the boys catcalled.  
  
Tenchi didn't answer, his mind was running too fast.  
  
"You heard him Masaki. Get going."  
  
Tenchi nodded and just threw his things in his bag.   
  
The last thing he heard before the door closed was . . .  
  
"She must be pretty good to let you get out of class Masaki."  
  
Tenchi flushed. If they had any idea what his house was like . . .  
  
He shook off that notion and headed towards the office.  
  
The secretary just handed him the phone.  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Hello, Tenchi." It was his grandfather.  
  
"Oh, hi grandpa." Tenchi relaxed a bit.  
  
"Tenchi, I want you to come home."  
  
"Of course grandpa, I can do that. But, I don't understand," he said confused.   
  
"That is very obvious Tenchi," his grandfather's voice was extremely dry. "Ryoko is in a coma."  
  
Tenchi's stomach began to feel very heavy. :Well, grandpa has never been one to sugar coat things if he could help it,: was his thought, it felt out of place at that moment.   
  
"How is she?" he asked, his throat very dry.  
  
Katsuhito sighed. "I do not know. Washu kicked us out of the lab till further notice."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Tenchi, come home as quickly as possible," Katsuhito's voice hardened.  
  
"Yes sir, I shall." He refrained from mentioning that things had been much easier when he was home all the time. However, his father and grandfather had insisted he return to school.   
  
"Good." There was a click on the other end.  
  
Tenchi dropped the phone onto the receiver and looked at it blankly.  
  
"Mr. Masaki?" The secretary asked gently.  
  
"There's been a family emergency and I am needed at home as quickly as possible." The excuse seemed to roll off the tongue of another person. A person whose heart and head felt as dull as his did.   
  
"Of course, just sign here and you're free to go."  
  
Tenchi signed the paper without thinking and his legs propelled him towards the door. :She's hurt,: was all he could think.  
  
By the time he left the school, he was at a dead run, not caring who saw him or the tears in his eyes.  
  
--  
  
Tenchi pounded down the dirt road, dashing headlong for the house. For once, he was running towards her and not from her. :Ryoko.:  
  
He took no time to remove his shoes and he dropped his bag beside the door. Just before he entered the living room he decided it might be a good idea to stop and catch his breathe.  
  
Hiding his deep concern, Tenchi strolled casually into the room. "How's she doing?" he asked quietly.  
  
"TENCHI!" Sasami squealed and jumped into his arms, where she promptly began to cry again. "I am so worried."  
  
Katsuhito just looked at his grandson, Tenchi was just patting Sasami's back and not saying anything. :He tries to hide his worry from the girls. Ah, the folly of youth.:  
  
Ayeka just nodded at him. "Last we knew she was stable, Lord Tenchi."  
  
Tenchi just gave her an odd look. "So, you don't really know at all."  
  
Kiyone stiffened, and then slumped her shoulders in defeat. Ayeka's eyes flashed. "No, and I don't understand why everybody is so concerned over that piece of space trash."   
  
Tenchi's concern for Ryoko was causing him to act a bit strangely.  
  
"That 'space trash' is a guest in my house Ayeka, of course I'm concerned. Having someone keel over is not good for my reputation of hospitality." His tone was biting.  
  
"She is a strong woman, she'll recover," Ayeka bit out. She was too angry to be shocked as the others were over Tenchi's harsh behavior. Her own concern was causing her to act strangely as well.   
  
"I wish," Washu said quietly from the lab door. "That I could be as sure as you, Princess Ayeka."  
  
Ayeka's mouth dropped with surprise. No one had heard Washu coming and the woman's face was deathly pale.  
  
Ayeka closed her mouth with a snap. "Of course I'm sure, I'm sure she's taken worse hits than this."   
  
"I wasn't speaking of the recover part." Washu said gravely. "She can live without food, water or even air if need be, however she may or may not be strong when she comes through this."  
  
"Of course she will, with her powers and all," Ayeka said firmly.  
  
The others watched this play with mixed emotions. Mihoshi was dry eyed, and Sasami had quieted her tears.  
  
Washu laughed softly. "You do not understand, do you, Princess? She is physically strong, yes, even stronger than she appears. Ryoko has not even begun to show her physical strength. Yet there are three other types of strengths as well, emotional, mental and spiritual . . ." Washu trailed off and shook her head slowly. "We all have much growing to do," she finished softly. Then she brightened. "You are welcome to come in and see her Tenchi."   
  
Tenchi set Sasami down and nodded at Washu. "I'd like that, little Washu."  
  
Washu beamed up at him and let him precede her into the lab.  
  
"What in hell did she mean by 'we'?" Kiyone muttered. Glancing specifically at Mihoshi, who broke out in crocodile tears again.  
  
--  
  
Ryo-ohki stirred off Ryoko's chest when they came in. Her pitiful mews and mrows broke Tenchi's heart as she flung herself, much like Sasami, into Tenchi's chest. Ryo-ohki's little girl form shuddered with sobs.  
  
All Tenchi could do was pat her back. He hadn't even seen Ryoko yet.  
  
"This way Tenchi." Washu beckoned. "I put her out of the way, so no one could get to her without trouble."  
  
Tenchi nodded, not understanding or really caring why Washu was going to all this trouble.  
  
They advanced to the second planet in her lab. Tenchi frowned a bit, but shrugged it off. :Ryoko is important, not where she is,: he reminded himself.  
  
He shifted Ryo-ohki to his hip, and she laid her head against his chest, soothed by the beating of his heart.  
  
They came upon Ryoko.  
  
She looked as if she was lying in state. The room was softly lit and warm and there was a cherry tree at the head of the bed, and it gently wept its petals over the unconscious woman. She was wearing a dress that he had never seen before. It was soft blue and had a full skirt that swept over the side of the bed. She was lying on a lavender coverlet and for the world looked like a sleeping princess for the tiara that tested her brainwaves was still in place.  
  
"She looks as if she could get up at any time," Tenchi said quietly, his eyes had noted all these details while walking up a dirt path between more cherry trees to the clearing where she lay.  
  
Washu smiled a bit. "Yes, she does, doesn't she?" Her voice was soft. :My poor girl.:  
  
Tenchi looked sideways at Washu and did not comment on the tears pouring down her cheeks.  
  
:The setting is beautiful, Washu.: He thought. :So uniquely Ryoko, she looks so peaceful and soft, lying there.: Tenchi stopped by the side of her bed.  
  
Ryo-ohki resumed her cabbit form and hopped to her former position on Ryoko's chest.  
  
Tenchi kneeled and took one of Ryoko's hands in his tan ones. "Ryoko," he whispered. "Don't leave us, we have so much more living to do." A tear dropped down and rested on their hands. "We all love you," a wry smile quirked his lips. "Okay, I can't vouch for Ayeka, but the rest of us do."  
  
She didn't stir. The only sound was the sound of her breathing and the rustle of cherry trees in a simulated wind.  
  
Washu couldn't stand anymore and rushed back down the path, gulping back tears. Tenchi made to move to go after her but he felt Ryoko's hand squeeze his.  
  
He turned, hoping against hope she was awake.   
  
"Mreow!" Ryo-ohki cried.  
  
Ryoko's eyes were closed and her chest rose up and down rhythmically. She was still out. Tenchi sighed and sat back down.   
  
He began a long vigil.  
  
--  
  
Katsuhito gave a small smile. Tenchi hadn't returned yet and he had been gone for over an hour. That only meant one thing. He was going to stay and watch.  
  
He stood up with a slight grimace. Then mentally chuckled to himself. :You must appear old to those around you, even if you aren't.:  
  
He pretended to hobble out towards the shrine.  
  
"Grandfather, where are you going?" Sasami asked tearfully.  
  
Katsuhito gave her a warm smile. "I must go attend to the shrine, Sasami."  
  
"Oh," Sasami's shoulders slumped and her head drooped.  
  
Katsuhito strode quickly over and tilted her head up to look at him. "Ryoko isn't going to get better by all of us just sitting around." He told her sternly. "Ryoko wouldn't want us to be sad, Sasami. She values life and freedom that much. She would want us to go on living."  
  
Sasami brightened. "I understand and obey grandfather." She said as she threw a hug around his neck. Katsuhito blinked and Sasami gave a small laugh and ran off towards the kitchen.  
  
Katsuhito stood up and stretched.   
  
"That is wise advice, Grandfather Masaki." Kiyone said quietly. "Which means, let's go back to work Mihoshi."  
  
To her surprise Mihoshi was already out the door. "Race 'ya," she cried over her shoulder.  
  
Kiyone rolled her eyes, but took off running.  
  
Ayeka watched as Katsuhito headed out the door slowly after the two officers. She looked down at Mayuka and blinked. :What does he mean that Ryoko values life and freedom, little Mayuka?: She thought towards the baby.  
  
Mayuka just giggled and waved her hands at Ayeka's face. It seemed even the baby was following Katsuhito's advice.  
  
--  
  
A few days passed and they could barely pry Tenchi out of the lab to eat. He didn't do much else but sit there. When they did get him out, either Sasami or Washu took his place. No one wanted to leave Ryoko alone, even if the place where she lay was halfway familiar.  
  
Tenchi would sit there and talk to her. He talked about school, Tokyo, his friends, hopes, dreams, confusions and all manner of things. He couldn't help it really and it filled up the long hours. When he wasn't there, he was eating or sleeping or even training with his grandfather. Tenchi didn't dare go to school in case she woke up and he wasn't there. Sometimes he would bring Mayuka with him down into the lab, and he would play with his daughter and talk about how she was growing and what she could do.  
  
When he wasn't there, Washu was, and her monologues were different. They were more about science and mathematics, but every once in a while Washu would share her heart and memories with her daughter. Washu couldn't keep back how much she loved her wayward child.  
  
Sasami would gossip about the people in the house and giggle over the mishaps of the day. Sometimes she would sport around with Ryo-ohki and made up fanciful tales about princes and dragons with Ryoko all at the center of them as the heroine and Tenchi was usually the hero.  
  
More days passed like this and sometimes Ryoko responded and other times she didn't.   
  
--  
  
The telephone rang.  
  
"Hello, this is Okinawa High School, is Masaki Tenchi there."  
  
Ayeka looked at the phone in confusion.  
  
"Yes, he is home."  
  
"Good, could he come to the phone please?"  
  
Ayeka grimaced, Tenchi was down sitting with Ryoko and she didn't know exactly in the lab where that was. :I don't want to see him with her. It's bad enough that he is down there at all.:  
  
She realized she'd been silent a bit too long. "This could take a few minutes, I'm not exactly sure where he is."  
  
"Take all the time you need."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Ayeka set the phone down on the table and hurried to the kitchen where  
  
Sasami was preparing lunch.  
  
"Hurry, Sasami someone is on the phone for Tenchi, they said it was his school and I don't know how to get to him."  
  
Sasami smiled. "It'll be faster if I go get him. You watch lunch."  
  
Ayeka sighed with relief as Sasami scampered out.  
  
A few minutes later, Tenchi came out with Mayuka in his arms and headed towards the phone.  
  
"Masaki Tenchi speaking," he said.  
  
"Hello, Mr. Masaki. This is Okinawa High School, we were wondering when you were coming back."  
  
Tenchi wished that he had a free hand to rub his temples with. "I don't know."  
  
"Not even a tentative date."  
  
"It could be next week or next month. I'm sorry that I can't give you a better answer."  
  
The secretary gave a sharp look at her phone. :It must be really bad because Tenchi is a wonderful student, once he bothers to show up.:   
  
Tenchi was still speaking however. "Perhaps you could send someone over with my homework or my father could pick it up on his way home from work, until I get back. Is that acceptable?"  
  
The secretary sighed. "I guess it will have to do. Tenchi, how bad is the emergency."  
  
"A friend of mine is in a coma."  
  
"Oh, was he in an accident?"  
  
"No, SHE wasn't."   
  
The secretary glared at the phone. "You better not be skipping school for a girlfriend Masaki," she growled.  
  
"Can't a guy have friends that are girls," Tenchi growled back. His face was red from anger or embarrassment. Mayuka giggled at him.  
  
The secretary sighed. "I'm sorry for snapping at you Tenchi, I've had a hard day."  
  
"Tell me about it," Tenchi muttered sarcastically as he tried to extricate May's fingers from his hair.   
  
"What did you say?"  
  
"I understand completely," he made up on the fly. "So the homework thing is good. Thanks, I really have to go. Good-bye."  
  
"Bye," the secretary said, but all she heard was a buzz from the other end.  
  
Ryoko heard all about it from Tenchi not five minutes later.  
  
--  
  
Ryoko's eyes fluttered. "Tenchi," she croaked.  
  
"I'm right here," he murmured.  
  
Ryoko turned her head to see him. Her gold feral eyes went wide at the sight of him sitting right next to her head. Mayuka was napping on his lap. She gave a small smile. "Hi handsome."  
  
Tenchi flushed a bit and she laughed, it was a dry laugh. Tenchi gently placed Mayuka on her chest and disappeared for a few moments. Ryoko frowned but stroked the baby's head.  
  
Tenchi came back with some water. He stopped however before he reached her and smiled at the sight. She saw him and flushed a bit but didn't stop stroking May's head.  
  
"Don't talk," he told her. He helped her sit up and gave her a sip of water. After she drank most of the glass and relaxed back down, he resumed his position sitting next to her head.  
  
"How long?"  
  
"Roughly nine days."  
  
She looked at him in shock. "Nine days," she squeaked.  
  
Tenchi chuckled. "I think."  
  
Ryoko shook her head to get past the time factor.  
  
"So where am I?"  
  
"In Washu's lab, I think she specially created this place for you."  
  
Ryoko was silent. "Well, it's beautiful," she murmured. Her eyes roving all that she could see.  
  
"This isn't even all of it. There's a spring with a stream, surrounded by bulrushes and on the other end there is a pond with lilies and goldfish. Sasami's been playing in the clearings."  
  
"I know, I've felt you'll with me." She turned to look him straight in the eyes. "You especially."  
  
Tenchi rubbed the back of his neck. "Washu's been worried sick and I think she's taking it out on all her experiments."  
  
Ryoko let it slide. "She needs a vacation," she said dryly.  
  
"I think at the moment the only way she'd agree to that was if it was with you. She's been so out of it she hasn't cornered me for days and that I tell you is a relief."  
  
Ryoko glared at him and he tried to look innocently back at her. "I don't get sick so others leave you alone."  
  
"Well, you could look at it this way, you've never had so much alone time with me," Tenchi riposted.  
  
"It doesn't count, I wasn't awake," she said flailing her arm out to slap him, Tenchi caught it and laid it gently back on Mayuka. His face sobered.  
  
"Could you hear us?"  
  
"Sometimes, some parts. I think I got most of the important bits." She said softly.  
  
"I think I best go get Washu."  
  
Ryoko grabbed his hand. Fear was etched on her features. "Come back with her, don't leave me alone."  
  
Tenchi squeezed her hand. "I'll come back," he reassured.  
  
Ryoko's features softened but she didn't let go of his hand.   
  
Tenchi slowly backed up and let her fingers slip through his. "I'll be right back, Ryoko. I wouldn't leave you, you know that."  
  
Ryoko nodded, :Yes, Tenchi I do know that.:  
  
Mayuka snuggled into Ryoko and snored softly. Ryoko's eyes closed and her brain quieted and she joined Tenchi's daughter in the land of slumber.  
  
--  
  
END CHAPTER!  
  
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RingPrincess  
  
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http://forums.thetenchireviewer.net 


	3. Chapter Three

A/N Tenchi Muyo! is owned by AIC and Pioneer and not by me. (ending dry and dull disclaimer)  
  
The ideas in this story are mine though and if you'd like to use or borrow them, contact me first at ring_princess@hotmail.com or ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
Special thanks to JohnnyG for editing and Netserfer for his honest review.  
  
Tenchi Muyo Saga One: Fate of Empires  
  
"One fine day, in the middle of the Night"  
  
By RingPrincess  
  
That Night   
  
Sasami sat on the dock and swished her feet in the cool water. Not her reflection, but Tsunami's glowed by the light of the moon on the surface of the lake, not disturbed by the ripples created by Sasami's feet.  
  
"Everybody's out of sorts Tsunami, and I feel so helpless," the little girl wailed to Her.  
  
::We are not the goddess of fate, Sasami,:: Tsunami tried to soothe her chosen avatar.  
  
"Yet you can influence it, can't you Tsunami?" Sasami said a tad bitterly. She of all people knew what Tsunami had done to Tenchi, for she had taken part.  
  
::Yes, that is true.:: Tsunami saw no reason to lie to the young girl, she would learn all soon enough.   
  
"He was happy the way he was before Tsunami. Why did you do this?"  
  
::I do what I must.::  
  
"That is not an answer and you know it." Sasami was crying now. "They hurt so much."  
  
::I am not sorry, though I wish it could be some other way.:: Tsunami's mind voice was tinted with remorse.  
  
"You can't fix every mistake in the universe, not even Kami can do that," Sasami accused and reminded her.   
  
::It is because Kami does nothing that I must interfere,:: Tsunami said angrily.  
  
"Perhaps he has a reason or perhaps he does and you cannot see it."  
  
::Child,:: her tone was kind. ::You do not understand, and you will not until you are older.::  
  
"I am sick of your saying, 'when your older,' I understand more than you think Tsunami." Sasami was sobbing great sobs now. "I understand pain and hurt."  
  
::I wish that was so,:: Tsunami smiled gently before she disappeared.  
  
Sasami covered her eyes with one hand and tried to control her tears. Ryo-ohki sensing her great distress began to try to comfort her. Ryo-ohki climbed into her lap and began to purr.  
  
"Why, Tsunami why?" Sasami whispered to the little cabbit, who only kept purring in response.  
  
--  
  
Washu frowned at her daughter. "I don't want you up, Little Ryoko."   
  
"I'm fine and stop calling me Little." Ryoko growled as she sat on the side of the bed in the midst of the cherry tree clearing. The perennial fall of cherry petals was beginning to annoy the former pirate, not as much as Washu's unreasonable over protectiveness, but close.  
  
"You shall always be my Little Ryoko," Washu said softly, her green eyes turning inward.  
  
Ryoko sighed and ran her fingers through her cyan hair. Washu was jerked abruptly out of her reverie by the tugging of her daughter's mind on hers.   
  
"I still don't know what happened to you. What if it happens again!" Washu crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the floor.   
  
"You can't stop it anyways, so why pen me up?" Ryoko crossed her arms as well, and stared down at the diminutive scientist.   
  
"Safety."  
  
"Fear." Ryoko tossed back.   
  
"If you won't think about yourself, think about Mayuka, I KNOW you care for her and don't want to see her hurt. You weren't holding her THIS time, but what if you are and it happens again."  
  
"We don't even know if this will happen again, Washu."  
  
"Call me Mom!"  
  
"You are NOT my mother! And there has been nothing to show that this will be more than a one-time incident. I'm fine, I'm leaving."  
  
"I am your MOTHER and for once you shall do as I say, Little Ryoko."   
  
"If you are my mother, stop HIDING!" Ryoko spat and teleported from the second planet.  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?" Washu yelled to the thin air. "I am not HIDING, I am right here!"   
  
--  
  
Duo sighed as he stared down at the beautiful planet below him, the blue oceans, the green lands. It was the most logical and perfect place for Mihoshi to be.   
  
"Of course she'd be here on Earth," he muttered. "A Jurain protected zone," he shook his head and wondered at his lifebonded's luck. The least known about planet in the universe, besides the home worlds of the Herlus and well, their own, his and Mihoshi's home world.  
  
"Captain?" His Herlus first mate raised a gray-green eyebrow.   
  
"Just thinking about Mihoshi." He gave a quick dazzling grin and the first mate grinned back.   
  
"Well, I think I can understand that," the first mate responded with a wink and a chuckle.  
  
"She has a Herlus partner." Duo smirked. "Perhaps you should think about her and not MY lifebonded, Porfirio."  
  
"I like forbidden fruit," Porfirio grinned broader.   
  
"Misfit," his captain snickered.  
  
Porfirio just shrugged and turned back to his instruments.  
  
"Captain," a soft and musical trill came from behind him and Duo jumped, he hadn't figured out how a person with talons for feet could move so silently. "A message has come for you, however I am not sure I am reading the originator code right, Captain."  
  
Duo frowned, his communication's officer usually wasn't so unsure of herself. Confidence seemed to be an inbred character trait of her kind, the Parbuteo. She was examining her finger talons closely and her feathers seemed to be closer to her skull. She looked up at him and he looked closely at her red eyes.   
  
"The code reads from Nekoia, nothing ever comes from Nekoia," she protested, feathers bristling in agitation.  
  
"I guess there is a first time for everything." Duo muttered. "Porfirio take us away from Earth and closer towards Jurai."  
  
"Aye, Captain."  
  
"Show me this message, Cerulea."  
  
"It is only a text message, but Nekoia! By the Mother, why would they contact us."  
  
"The same reason anyone else contacts us." Duo muttered sardonically.  
  
This seemed to calm her a bit, and she nodded her head, beak clacking in agreement. "I understand, Captain. Yet, they are a most secretive place."  
  
"Not as secretive as some, and they have more of a presence in Jurain space than most would suspect, Cerulea."  
  
"I shall remember that, Captain." Cerulea's long legs ate up the deck with ease. He took three steps to her one. When they reached her station, her hands quickly tapped in the necessary codes for the information required. A small disk popped out of a slot in the desk and she handed it to him between two talon tips.   
  
Duo took it from her. "I'll be in the waiting room."  
  
"Aye Captain." The other three of his four-person (including himself) crew chorused.   
  
He rolled his green eyes and trotted towards a side door on the bridge. Mihoshi wouldn't recognize the place now. Not that she had spent much time there. He inserted the disk into a reader and looked out the bank of windows that took up a whole wall of the room.  
  
This was one of the few luxuries he allowed himself, a waiting room/office with a view of the stars. He ran his fingers through his hair, after his friends; Porfirio, Cerulea and Leopold, a Qualeon had sprung him and his ship from the GP, they'd banded together. Even if they didn't know it, they were one of the few reasons that he was as sane as he was. He could feel the tug of bond-lunacy on his mind everyday.   
  
His eyes closed and he took deep breaths as the strain became greater to keep a hold of himself. He had to try, the others counted on him.   
  
"Computer, read message."  
  
A bright, alive, female voice answered him, Mihoshi's voice. The closest he had come to her in six years.  
  
"Originating code, Nekoia, Nekoian Empire. Message as follows. To Duo Hamikasu, heir of the Hamika chair in exile, bonded of Kuramitsu, hunter of bounties, Greetings from the Regal throne of Nekoia, chosen by the gem crown, singer of crystals and Mother Empress of the stars. We come to you with a matter of extreme delicacy and profit. We desire that you look upon this proposition at your earliest convenience and wish to negotiate a meeting with you. Your reputation precedes you and your expertise is legendary in matters such as these.  
  
We look forward to seeing you.   
  
Attached file. "  
  
"Stop message." Duo bit his bottom lip and stared out at the stars. :The Regal throne of Nekoia has a job for me.:  
  
"Computer, forward attached coordinates to Leopold and prepare to enter hyperspace."  
  
"At once, sir."  
  
Duo chewed his lip some more and blindly watched the stars. "Mihoshi, I hope I know what I'm doing."  
  
--  
  
Ryoko appeared over Tenchi, it was the middle of the night and all in the house were asleep.  
  
::Come back here right now, young lady.:: Washu shouted into her head.  
  
Ryoko clamped her hands over her ears, even though it would do no good, for the voice was inside her head and not coming in the form of sound waves to her ears.  
  
::NO. GO AWAY!:: Ryoko slammed up the best mind protections that she could.   
  
Washu began to attack them and the walls shuddered under the force of her blows. Ryoko's eyes widened, Washu had never done this in one of their arguments before. She scrambled to create more protections inside of those that Washu was pounding to dust. ::Leave me alone.:: She cried mentally, eyes squeezed shut and hands still over her ears.  
  
Washu steamrolled over the first of her protections and was suddenly stopped by the next set. Ryoko whimpered as Washu began to probe them.  
  
Tenchi's eyes fluttered open, the whimper enough to wake him. He scrubbed his eyes as he took watched Ryoko trying to fend something off he couldn't see. Her brow was crisscrossed in lines of concentration and her teeth were gritted.   
  
"Ryoko?" he whispered.  
  
She whimpered louder. "She's hurting me."   
  
Tenchi's eyes widened.  
  
"Leave me alone!" she cried, suddenly she curled into a fetal position and groaned.   
  
::GET BACK HERE!::  
  
::LEAVE ME ALONE!!::  
  
"Ryoko, who's hurting you?"  
  
"SHE is," Ryoko waved vaguely. "She wants me to go back to her, she's trying to . . ."  
  
Ryoko whimpered again. "NO. I WON'T LET YOU!!!"  
  
::IT IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!::  
  
::I've been down this path before, don't tell me about what is good for me!::  
  
Tenchi's reached up and dragged her down out of the air into his arms. "Let me help you, Ryoko," he whispered.  
  
"She won't leave me alone Tenchi, she wants to hurt me."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Her, of course." Ryoko looked up at him, amber eyes wide. "She does it without even meaning too at times, but other times, like now she does it on purpose."  
  
"Go on."  
  
"She thinks she knows what's best for me. She forgets that I am a free person. You saved me and set me free. She won't leave me alone though."  
  
"How won't she leave me alone?"  
  
Ryoko curled up closer to him. "Well, like now, she won't leave my mind alone other times she wants to . . ." Ryoko began to shiver. ". . .experiment on me. She won't ever leave me alone."   
  
::It's for the best.::  
  
::Please, stop,:: Ryoko begged.   
  
"Ryoko, you mean Washu. Washu won't leave you alone."  
  
Ryoko nodded and flushed not quite daring to look at him. "She claims to be my mother, my mother never did anything like this. How can she be my mother then? I loved my mother."  
  
Tenchi's eyes widened. It was generally accepted in the house that Washu was Ryoko's mother.  
  
Now, Ryoko was protesting that statement, she generally protested that statement, but this time was different. She wasn't angry about it, more confused and scared. "Tell me about your mother."  
  
"I can't. Not without getting distracted and if I'm distracted she'll break into my mind and take over."  
  
"Let me help."  
  
"How can you help?"  
  
Tenchi cradled her in his arms and frowned. "I'll think of something."  
  
"Think quickly."   
  
Ryoko's eyes squeezed shut and tears began to leak from between her lashes. Tenchi wiped them away gently and hugged her closer. :Why is Washu doing this? Can't she see that Ryoko is in pain or does she truly not care?: There seemed only one way to find out.  
  
"Ryoko . . ." he whispered.   
  
Ryoko didn't move and Tenchi shifted her slightly so he could stand.   
  
He shoved the door aside with his shoulder and gingerly made his way downstairs, one foot feeling ahead of him for the next step, his socks making the stairs slightly dangerous if he should slip and fall with the precious burden in his arms.   
  
He shoulder the broom closet door open. "Washu!" he yelled.   
  
Washu popped up immediately. "Oh thank you, Tenchi!" She greeted him enthusiastically once she saw the bundle in his arms.  
  
"Don't be so happy, yet." He whispered and clutched Ryoko closer as Washu reached out to take her. "Can't you see what you are doing to her?" He didn't yell, yet used a low fervent voice that carried his anger much more clearly than yelling would. He feared that yelling would distract Ryoko as she attempted to block Washu from her mind.  
  
Washu took a step back and Tenchi took a step forward. "Look closely, Little Washu," he growled and thrust Ryoko towards her. Washu stumbled against something and fell down staring at Ryoko. "She is in pain because of YOU! She is in more pain than she has already suffered because of YOU!" Tenchi hissed. "Is this how a MOTHER ACTS!" He shook his head, brown eyes filled with regret. "I am inclined to agree with her, you are not her mother.  
  
A MOTHER doesn't deliberately hurt their children."   
  
Washu regained her composure and shook her head. "It is for the best, there are things going on here that you don't understand."  
  
"Really, and I suppose that it makes this all right." Tenchi's voice twisted and his eyes narrowed. "I see." He raised an eyebrow. "Desist at once Washu."  
  
"There is no threat that you can give me that would be effective," Washu raised her chin and stared him down.  
  
Tenchi was curiously without fear of the small scientist and he smiled mercilessly. "I would make no threats, Little Washu, only promises."  
  
Washu's eyes narrowed. "Hah, you!" she snorted in derision. "You cannot make up your mind on . . ."  
  
"Are you testing me, Washu?" Tenchi interrupted. "Please do, I could use the challenge." He raised both eyebrows. "If you wish a relationship with Ryoko from now on, Little Washu, you must come through me."  
  
Washu's jaw dropped and her emerald eye's went wide. "You wouldn't dare."  
  
"Dare!" Tenchi laughed. "It is done." Light blue shields passed over Ryoko's body. "Mayuka needs her caregiver and I need my friend," he added, as Ryoko's body relaxed and she fell asleep, totally trusting in Tenchi's arms. "More than you need a guinea pig or pet." His voice returned to its cold tones and he turned his back on Washu. "Perhaps, you should spend you new found free time figuring out a way to repair your relationship with Ryoko."  
  
Washu glared at his back. "I do LOVE her, Tenchi Masaki."   
  
"I never doubted that, Washu. You think you are providing for her and protecting her by doing this. Little do you see that you are hurting her and the rest of us." Tenchi paused before the door.   
  
"You've changed." Washu accused.  
  
"I had nine days of barely uninterrupted meditation." Tenchi didn't shrug or turn back towards the diminutive scientist. "Go figure."  
  
--  
  
Far across the galaxy a meeting was being held, even as Tenchi protected Ryoko and Duo received his job offer. It was a rare meeting, held in an out of the way place. For having these three personages together was a great security risk.   
  
The place where the meeting was being held was plain by their standards, a hexagonal room made completely of white quartz crystal veined with gold and silver. The floor was scattered with piles of pillows upon low pile rugs to 'warm' the floor. The personages seemed extremely comfortable in this room, as heat radiated from the floor itself and the rugs were there only to soften the deliberately roughened crystal.   
  
"This is most disturbing," one whispered, her blue cat eyes flicking from one companion to the other. Her pale pink hair was twisted to the top of her head, two side locks curled to soften her face and her hands smoothed a dark forest green and maroon satin dress.   
  
"I agree Your Holiness, Rieshu," another replied, her dress was low cut and closefitting, showing a more than ample cleavage, her brown eyes were most serious and she fiddled slightly with a necklace of vibrant green crystals. They matched the green jewel tone of her dress, accessorized in tones of amethyst and ruby.   
  
"Milady," the other began, "we must act." She tossed her orange peach hair. It fell in generous spikes across one shoulder, standing out from the rich maroon in her dress, a dress in the same style of Rieshu's carrying the same colors with navy added as well.   
  
"It is outside our boundaries, High Priestess." The first to answer Rieshu snapped.  
  
"We cannot just sit here, Regal Priestess." The High Priestess of Rieshu snapped at the Regal Priestess of the Goddess, a Goddess whose name was deliberately forgotten for her protection.  
  
"Makoto, Syoko, we must not bicker among ourselves." Rieshu rubbed her temples with one hand, and patted her hair with the other.  
  
The High and the Regal Priestesses had the grace to look ashamed. "Apologies, my lady Rieshu," they unwittingly chorused.  
  
"Accepted, High Priestess Syoko; accepted, Regal Priestess Makoto." Rieshu nodded gracefully and then ruined the image by biting her lip. "Do the two of you have any constructive ideas?"  
  
"We should do as we should have done in the first place." Makoto shoved her long green hair over one shoulder, brown eyes snapping in impatience.  
  
"Steal her away, impossible and well you know it." Syoko grimaced, violet eyes wincing. "I must insist on a different solution." She tossed hair again and it fell behind her back.   
  
"It is what the Regal Goddess would have wanted." Makoto tapped her fingernails on the edge of her cushion.   
  
Syoko shook her head and raised her hands in frustration. "Rieshu . . ."   
  
Rieshu looked between the two of them. "I can see both sides, it is a peril of what I am."  
  
"Then forget what you are for just a moment and help!" Syoko almost screamed her voice pinched.   
  
"I cannot."  
  
"Cannot or will not, demi-goddess?" Makoto interjected mildly.  
  
Rieshu sighed. "A bit of both, this decision must be left to you."  
  
Makoto exchanged a long even glance with Syoko. "What would you suggest then High Priestess?"  
  
Syoko closed her eyes. "Keep her where she is, she is safer and she may have a life."  
  
Rieshu snorted. :May have a life, she most certainly has a life, a fact most of our people would like to forget.:  
  
Syoko went on, "Send. . ."  
  
"No," Makoto's eyes widened.  
  
"You must part with her sooner or later." Syoko smiled sadly, "Or should I say we must."  
  
"She has been loyal to us for a long time."  
  
"Yes, and she has been pledged to this very duty for a long time."  
  
Makoto slumped into the cushions and her eyes closed in defeat. "Very well."  
  
"Thank you, Makoto," Syoko whispered.   
  
Makoto opened one eye and gave a weak half grin. "It is only because I like you so much," she teased, the animosity the two priestesses had for each other well documented.  
  
Syoko and Rieshu rolled their eyes simultaneously.  
  
--  
  
*One Night A Week Later*  
  
Mihoshi stared at the stars around her. She hadn't felt his presence in a week. He had been here, she was sure of it, and was just as sure that his ship had rested where hers now floated. She wasn't even sure it was the same ship that she had captured, but Duo was sentimental and she was sure he would have kept it.   
  
:Duo . . .: A tear seeped out of her eye. :Why do you not come, why do you leave me alone?: The blonde sat in the co-pilot chair and was staring at the same Earth that had riveted Duo not so long ago. They were so close to being 'home' at this point, yet there was still more to do.   
  
"Well Mihoshi, nothing in this sector," Kiyone said smoothly from the pilot chair. Adjusting her orange headband in her gray green hair she glanced over at her partner.  
  
Mihoshi sat there woodenly, staring out into space, her eyes lost and far away.   
  
Kiyone narrowed her dark teal eyes. "Mihoshi, are you okay?"  
  
Mihoshi instantly came back to the Yagami and pasted a cheery smile on her face. "Fine, will we be headed back home soon?" she sing-songed, smoothing away the worry lines and heartache behind the bubbly personality.  
  
Kiyone shook her head. "Just one more sector and we can go back."  
  
"That's great Kiyone." Mihoshi smiled as wide as she could. "Wouldn't want to miss Sasami's good cooking."   
  
Kiyone gave a small laugh. :She's fine. I worry too much.: "Right, it's better than what you or I can do, much better. Let's finish this up."  
  
Mihoshi laughed lightly along with her partner. :That was close.: "Watch out villains, Galaxy Detectives Mihoshi and Kiyone are on the way."  
  
Kiyone steered towards the next sector, clueless as to the heartache her partner was in, the heartache Mihoshi hid behind the steel walls of her will and enforced personality.  
  
--  
  
"The Nest" was a conglomerate of dysfunctional spaceships and miscellaneous parts off of old space stations. Jurain tree life-support systems shared space with Parbuteo maneuvering wings, complete with feathered designs and being used for walls. Attached with silver engine tape and miscellaneous rivets were shards of crystal and even a crystal dome from an ancient Nekoian ship that had been destroyed in some ancient war. If one looked closely, they would see engines from Galaxy police cruisers, "The Nest" was made to move, and move rather quickly.   
  
There was a good reason for this, having GP charge into the underworld capital while you just sat down to get a drink wasn't anyone's idea of a good thing. So, "The Nest" moved and in "The Nest" there was one rule. Mind your own business. Here a gunshot, don't bother checking it out, your buddy is caught by a   
  
Hunter, leave it alone and thank whatever gods you believe in (even if it is only dame fortune) that it wasn't you who were caught this time. Who knows, next time it COULD be you and would you want someone sticking his nose (beak etc.) into your business? Of course not, that is why it is YOUR business.   
  
Only ONE cardinal rule and it was followed religiously (even if the scum didn't believe in any religion, there were enough to choose from in the galaxy). Another good rule was always to be ready, have a hand on your weapon and eyes in the back of your head. Scum was still scum and you never know what could happen, just hope that your fellow scum had some honor, however unlikely it was.  
  
Nagi grimaced as she nursed the foul concoction that one of the many pubs called beer. Her red eyes were obscured by the deep shadow of her hood and she idly reached up to scratch the ears of her ship and partner, Ken-ohki.  
  
The white cabbit snuggled deeper into her neck, also out of sight because of the hood. ::Any leads?::  
  
"You've been with me the whole time, cabbit," Nagi groused, taking another sip of the orange concoction, grimacing as it burned her tongue and throat.  
  
Ken-ohki sniffed. ::I thought you might have noticed something I hadn't.::  
  
"This guys smarter than most, he'd have to be. He's successful."  
  
::He could just be lucky.::  
  
"I highly doubt it." Nagi's voice was rough with amusement or the alcohol, Ken-ohki couldn't tell which.  
  
::He'll be here, somewhere.::  
  
"There's a lot of somewhere in here." Nagi observed, then shrugged.   
  
"Ain't that the truth, Hunter," the barkeep snorted, as he scrubbed glasses with a white towel, smudged with the various colors of the different alcohols the joint served.   
  
Nagi slid a 100-credit chit across the bar, the top knuckle of her finger bent backwards. "Hamikasu is gathering some Hunters together," she trailed off, raising an eyebrow.   
  
The barkeep leaned in closer to Nagi. "Well, that is the funny thing Hunter. He's rented out my back room there to hold his little meeting." He laughed, showing half rotted teeth and Nagi refrained from blanching at his foul breath. It seemed he was drinking a bit too much of his own stock, not that it surprised her. Some Herlus were like that, the non-acceptance from their own kind caused them to do strange things. She lifted her finger off the credit chit and 'miraculously' it disappeared.   
  
She topped back the rest of the drink and shoved the glass at him as well. The barkeep snatched it up and began to vigorously wipe out the inside.  
  
Nagi shoved away from the bar and headed towards the back. ::Progress, finally.::  
  
"It was only a matter of time, I spread enough word around about why I was here that someone was going to talk," she muttered. "That barkeep had been eyeing me for the last hour."  
  
::Smart.::  
  
"Thanks, cabbit, I think."  
  
She pushed the door open and smirked. Inside was a scene of chaos and noisy confusion.  
  
"YOU MUST BE NUTS!!!"  
  
"RYOKO!"   
  
"Equivalent to FOUR billion Jurai, who has that much money!"  
  
"We're going to be KILLED!"  
  
"A former Class A criminal!"  
  
Nagi shoved her way forward. Sharp glances to either side of her quieting the Hunters who saw her.   
  
Duo stood in the front, his hand raked through his hair. "Guys, gals, look, we can do this. She is only one person."  
  
Nagi snorted, "Yes, she is," she said scornfully, her harsh voice quieting the room. "All of you against one woman and you doubt your prowess."   
  
She glared at each and every one of them.   
  
One dared to speak. "Ryoko has killed planets in one blast, how could we have a chance?"  
  
Nagi shrugged and held out her arm. Ken-ohki hopped out from inside her cloak and she scratched his chin.   
  
Duo took the meeting back over. "If you don't want to go, there's the door. I am only going to take those that are willing to take the risk." A hushed murmur ran through the room and Duo pounded his fist on the table. "Which is what this business is all about, taking the risks." He crossed his arms. None of the hunters moved. "Right, here's what we know."  
  
--  
  
Nagi nodded at Duo as he came to stand in front of her.   
  
"I am glad you showed up." He said quietly, "I almost sent someone to find you."  
  
Nagi snorted. "You wouldn't have had any luck. I am coming with you only because it suits me Hamikasu." Her eyes caught his own. "There is safety in numbers."  
  
"Your ego never ceases to amaze me." Duo shook his head and ran his fingers through the shock of red hair.  
  
"If I so chose, I could bring Ryoko in on my own. I do not choose to do so," she pointed out. "I have the reputation of doing exactly what I like." She smiled. "You wanted me here anyways, I wasn't about to disappoint."  
  
"This is a guild bounty," Duo murmured. "I wonder how you of all people found out about it."  
  
"I have my sources." Nagi smirked. "Nothing escapes my notice, including what you don't know about Ryoko and her status is greater than what you do know."  
  
"It is worth the risk."  
  
"The price of doing business. It's been a pleasure, Duo." Nagi whirled and walked out. "See you at the rendezvous point."  
  
--  
  
There was a moonlit clearing in the middle of the forest, one side of this clearing held a cave, a cave that was once a prison. That cave was now a place of refuge for two souls, one male, and one female. Their bodies close to share each other's warmth against the cool night air and perhaps something more.   
  
The female smiled softly, looking upwards towards the males face. He glanced down, catching the white shine from the moon off her eyes and he grinned back.   
  
"Is it hard?" she whispered, her lips soft and finely lined.   
  
"Does it hurt?" he replied, "remembering?" His breath tickled her ear as he asked the question.   
  
"Always."  
  
"Always."   
  
She reached over and grabbed his dusky hand in her refined pale one. "This place is so full of lies." Her eyes closed and a tear trickled down her cheek, gleaming. The male squeezed her hand and wiped away the tear with his free thumb.  
  
"I know and it doesn't make things any easier," he murmured. "It is a fine web we are caught in."  
  
"A web not of our own making or choosing," the female protested, then flushed. "Or at least mostly not of our own making."   
  
The male nodded and sighed into her hair. "Such small troubles."  
  
"No trouble is small." She stared over the clearing, fireflies dancing at the edge of it. A smile creased her lips again. "At least not to those the trouble is effecting."  
  
The male rubbed his nose into her hair, "If you say so." His voice muffled by the soft strands.  
  
The female laughed lightly. "Goof."   
  
"How long can this last?" He raised his head, resting his chin on the top of her head. "How long until . . ."  
  
"We break?" the female finished sadly.   
  
"It will happen one day."  
  
"So many lies, so many false faces and masks." The female moaned.   
  
The male brought her closer to his chest. "I know, I know."   
  
--  
  
Washu's lab was dark, darker than the natural night outside. The small scientist couldn't sense her daughter anywhere, the presence that Ryoko had been in her mind and on her instruments since the day the child had been born was gone, black, dead, as if it had never existed.   
  
Washu didn't know what to do. So she sat, alone, in the darkness. Her daughter was gone to her and she couldn't . . .she couldn't . . .  
  
In the back of her mind Washu knew she had been sitting there for a week, the cycle of artificial light and dark the only clue. Time had gone past her while she sat there, she had never felt so helpless. There was no comparison to the time when Ryoko had been out. Then Washu could at least see her daughter, register on her instruments, know that she was still alive, still real and not a figment of her imagination.  
  
Ryoko was gone, gone from her.   
  
Washu blinked, eye lashes not stirring any dust motes in the clean lab.   
  
:If you're my mother, STOP HIDING!: Ryoko's distressed voice was twisted into a cruel taunt. Washu moaned, "I don't understand . . ." she whispered in a cruel parody of the actual events.  
  
Another figure presented itself, the back of the young man who her daughter's heart was set on, Tenchi. Washu whimpered.  
  
:Perhaps you should spend your new found free time figuring out a way to repair your relationship with your daughter.: The kind voice thick with subtle sarcasms and innuendos. Washu grimaced, her eyes closing. "Oh how much do you know, Tenchi Masaki," she murmured. "I do love her. . ." She hugged herself and stabbed once again for that over familiar presence that had ALWAYS been there, even in the timelessness of Kagato's imprisonment, Ryoko's mind had always been there.  
  
"RYOKO!!!!" Washu slid off her cushion, cradling her head in her arms. Her body convulsed in sobs.   
  
"RYOKO!!!!!"  
  
--  
  
END CHAPTER!  
  
Questions and comments should be sent to one of the emails below! Check out my websites... and tell me what you think please.  
  
RingPrincess  
  
ring_princess@hotmail.com   
  
ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/ringprincess/index.html  
  
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tenchimuyofanfiction/  
  
http://www.thetenchireviewer.net 


	4. Chapter Four

A/N Tenchi Muyo! is owned by AIC and Pioneer and not by me. (ending dry and dull disclaimer)  
  
The ideas in this story are mine though and if you'd like to use or borrow them, contact me first at ring_princess@hotmail.com or ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
Thanks go out to JohnnyG for editting this, it was a large work to do! Thanks!!!  
  
Tenchi Muyo Saga One: Fate of Empires  
  
"Attack and Recovery"  
  
By RingPrincess  
  
At the Rendezvous Point  
  
Nagi shifted in her chair aboard Ken-ohki. "Damn, I want this over with," she hissed to the cabbit. A ghostly apparition of a male humanoid flickered among the floating crystals. He shrugged slightly and didn't say anything for his mistress knew as well as he did that he felt only the same even if it was for differing reasons.  
  
"Mark," a female Parbuteo voice snapped out, the end of her word cut off by the slight clacking of her beak.  
  
Seemingly as one all the ships in orbit around Earth began to descend, the brightness of their engines fighting for prominence against the shields of flame that wrapped around their frames. Nagi began her own descent mere seconds after the others, noting that Duo's ship had remained aloft as planned.   
  
Nagi smirked slightly and adjusted her hood. "Plans have a way of falling apart." She muttered to herself and Ken-ohki snorted. Their own half-sphere of flame kept most of his attention on the descent.  
  
::Ryo-ohki!:: He cried out, trying to reach her mind. ::Ryo-ohki, answer me!::  
  
His and Nagi's plans rested on a few factors. Ryo-ohki answering his call was one of them. He waited a few more moments, as many as he could spare as the surface of Earth came closer and closer.  
  
::RYO-OHKI!::  
  
::I hear you! Who are you?:: Her answer was tinted with a mixture of emotions, fear, curiosity, anger. . .  
  
::Be prepared to fight, raise your mistress!:: He fought to keep the relief at her answer from his mind thought, fought to keep the deep disappointment that she hadn't recognized him although his heart knew that she wouldn't have. He grinned as she screamed out a battle cry. "I think Duo's plans are officially screwed."  
  
Nagi snorted, but smiled at her partner. "Good, I so enjoy ruining other peoples day."  
  
Then they were upon the disembarkation point.  
  
--  
  
Ryoko became ramrod straight as Ryo-ohki's distinctive battle cry rent the air. Her golden eyes narrowing as she set Mayuka down. "Sleep, sweet May," she whispered, and kissed the babe's head. "Mommy will protect you."  
  
Amazingly the little girl squirmed for a few moments, settling herself and then closed her red eyes, dropping off.  
  
Ryoko teleported out of existence, arriving next to Tenchi in a heart beat. "Tenchi, there is a fight coming!" She tugged on his arm, phasing into her battle suit as she did.   
  
Tenchi dropped the hoe and stared at her, "Right!"   
  
They ran together towards the lake.  
  
--  
  
Washu stared at her screens. The images flashing upon them couldn't be possible. Ships of every make and every species in the galaxy were descending upon the house, including another cabbit ship.  
  
Her fingers scrambled over the keys of her holo-top. "Where is it? Where is it!" She muttered to herself and sighed when the appropriate gun dropped out of a portal into her lap. "Right! Not that I need it," she grinned fiercely and picked it up. "I wanna see how it works."   
  
She ran from the lab and kicked the door open. "MIHOSHI!!!" she screamed. "KIYONE!!!"  
  
The blonde was hurtling down the stairs. "I know, I'm not that great of an idiot! So stop treating me like one!" she screamed back. Then she almost choked. Shocked comprehension dawned on her face.  
  
Washu blinked. "Uh-huh. This I got to see." she muttered and she shook her head.   
  
Kiyone came hurtling after her partner a few moments later, gun in hand and yo-yo attached to her belt. "WAIT FOR ME!"   
  
Washu raised an eyebrow and began to head after the two galaxy police officers, then turned to find the princesses.  
  
--  
  
Ryoko and Tenchi arrived at the lake as the bounty hunters began to disembark and their ships roared back into the upper atmospheres. A red headed man, his nose sprinkled with freckles and his arms brawny grinned at the two of them. "So nice of you to come greet us, Ryoko, I assure you this is only business and nothing personal."  
  
Ryoko snorted. "I'm sure."  
  
Mihoshi skittered to a stop next to Ryoko. "Duo!" She gasped and glared at him. "What is the meaning of this, zor!" Her blaster snapped up and was trained onto Duo's head, her finger twitched spasmodically.  
  
Duo blinked and swallowed convulsively. "Ryoko has a price on her head and I've been sent to collect it, that's all Mihoshi, just business." It was the wrong answer.  
  
Mihoshi's big blue eyes grew hard and her lips became a thin line. "That's all, Duo?" she growled. "There are quite a few hunters here for just collection."  
  
"Ryoko has a deserved reputation," Duo tried to explain.  
  
"I don't give a shit about Ryoko's reputation, Duo!" Mihoshi snarled.  
  
Nagi shoved between the assembled hunters and they quickly moved out of her way, making a short path between her current position and the empty deck between the hunters and the hunted. She stopped in the middle and smiled at the family. She turned to Duo. "You might want to amend your words, Duo, before Mihoshi kills you."  
  
Duo's green eyes narrowed and he growled in the back of his throat. "What is this all about, Nagi?"  
  
"Just my job. As you said, business," she shrugged. "Nothing personal against you, Duo Hamika," A slight wind tugged at her cape allowing a short glimpse of a black and red body suit. "Ken-ohki," she whispered. "Take Ryo-ohki . . ."  
  
"At once, my mistress," A pleasant tenor came from the back and a sudden scream startled the hunters and family alike.  
  
"CIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOO!!!"   
  
Ryo-ohki's fur began to bristle and she hissed at the assembled hunters, running towards them, and then she jumped into the air.  
  
"MIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" The black crystal ship screamed after the white one.   
  
"Traitor to your own kind," a hunter spat onto the deck.  
  
Nagi laughed pleasantly.   
  
Ryoko took the strides forward to come up beside her. "Tell me about this bounty, Duo."  
  
"And I might just let you live." Mihoshi hissed, Kiyone placed a restraining hand on her partner's arm, which Mihoshi shook off.  
  
Duo stared at Mihoshi. "Mihoshi . . ." he whispered.  
  
"Oh, don't you dare, Mihoshi me, DUO HAMIKASU!" she screamed, tears beginning to stream down her face.   
  
Duo shivered and tore his eyes away from her. "I cannot tell you, that was part of the deal."  
  
"Oh, in that case." Ryoko shrugged, giving a feral grin. A ball of plasma appeared in her hand and she squeezed it into her favored weapon. "You die."  
  
Tenchi lit the Tenchi-ken, the blue blade lighting up one side of his face. "Who first?" he grinned cockily.   
  
"You may call me a traitor, Qualeon." Nagi shrugged. "I never said I was joining you. I only said I was coming with you."  
  
The Qualeon charged forward.  
  
Duo held up a hand to stop him, but it was too late. "NOOOOOOO!"  
  
--  
  
Washu sighed as she saw the Qualeon charge forward and Nagi gutted him on a golden energy sword. The purple force whip she was famous for using nowhere in sight. "Oh, now this is going to be bloody." She sighed again and lined up her gun, praying Tenchi would forgive her for putting holes in his windows. She squeezed the trigger gently and braced herself against the recoil. A heavily pierced and tattooed bounty hunter melted from the gun's ray. "I am such a genius!" Washu cackled.  
  
Kiyone's yo-yo whipped out and brained another hunter. Washu lifted the gun to her shoulder and touched it off, wincing as the shot took out the sliding glass door and the charging overly bulky Vorgoth on steroids she was aiming at.   
  
Ryoko's blade moved in a blur of orange red, creating patterns one couldn't see, effectively cutting off hands, heads and any other miscellaneous appendage that got in her way. Nagi stood at Ryoko's back, the own golden blade doing the same amount of damage. She fumbled for something under her cloak.   
  
Nagi's hand came up with a small diamond crystal and she lobbed it into the air. It gave an ear piercing off tonal shriek and shattered in all directions, miraculously missing all of the defenders.   
  
"You traitorous scum!" a Herlus screamed.  
  
Nagi rolled her eyes and sighed. "I said I was coming with you . . . not joining you," she repeated. "Perhaps the fine tuning of the words is beyond your comprehension." She sneered and cut him through. :Idiot.: His dropped jaw of shock following him to the afterlife. :Some never learn.: She managed not to roll her eyes and held up her hand.  
  
Shards of crystal flew through the air, shedding droplets of blood and flesh as they did, anointing the ground without discrimination until arriving back to her palm and reassembling themselves back into the diamond formation.   
  
Nagi caught Tenchi's startled look and winked at him. "Keep fighting boy," she shouted.  
  
He grinned and dispatched another bounty hunter. "There's too many of them!" he shouted back. "And there's so little time!"  
  
Washu stepped through the ruined window and sighted again on a hunter who was trying to sneak up behind Tenchi. The hunter melted into a pile of glowing red goo and Washu cackled.  
  
"Thank you, Little Washu. You are both a scholar and a gentleman." Tenchi took a half second to bow to her, as she turned his other opponent into another pile of goo.  
  
"Don't mention it." She whined nasally. "Just help me think of a name for this thing." She patted the gun's handle. "I know it isn't as good as my energy sword, but it is still useful."  
  
Tenchi blinked for a few moments and shrugged.   
  
"You know the code, Nagi!" a member of Mihoshi's race boomed across the small battlefield.  
  
"Code!" Ryoko and Nagi exclaimed at once.   
  
"You know there is no code for freelancers," Ryoko sneered. "Space Pirate and Hunter, even under Kagato I learned that much!"  
  
"Especially freelancers that pay no guild dues," Nagi added and then cocked her head. "Is it my fault your security sucks?"   
  
The hunter about choked and Nagi cut his legs out from under him. "Didn't think so," she muttered as she rammed her blade through his chest.   
  
Washu turned the body into it's own pile of goo and sighed. :It isn't as satisfying when they are already dead for some reason. Oh well, saves on clean up.:   
  
"Very nice weapon, Little Washu," Nagi nodded and paused for a moment.   
  
"Very nice is no name for a weapon," Washu grimaced.   
  
Ryoko was still at it, her back had come up against Tenchi's and they were fighting off far too many hunters than the two of them could handle, though they didn't seem to be in trouble quite yet. For what seemed like random bursts from the Galaxy Police guns were sporadically killing quite a few of their opponents.  
  
"Is it me or are they a tad obsessed?" Washu raised an eyebrow and grinned. She dropped the gun in a convenient space portal and ignited her energy sword. Her first upward thrust divested a nearby hunter of his gun.   
  
Nagi shrugged. "The bounty IS quite large."   
  
::Washu!:: Ryo-ohki barged into her mind. ::Incoming!::  
  
Washu glanced upwards, a black ship was descending, Ryo-ohki and Ken-ohki hot on its tail, smoke trailed from the overworked engines and was partially blinding the two cabbit ships.   
  
Mihoshi screamed and shot the hunter she was fighting with in the face. Only then did anyone see that her 'random' shots had actually been clearing her a path. "NOBODY MOVE!" Mihoshi screamed.  
  
Washu looked over, Mihoshi was standing over an obviously in pain Duo with a gun to his head. Even the ship stopped and hovered above the lake, Ryo-ohki and Ken-ohki above it, guns trained.   
  
A hunter went for his weapon and methodically Mihoshi moved her gun from Duo's head and shot every remaining hunter down.  
  
"I said nobody move," she muttered and stared down at Duo. "And YOU," She holstered her gun and slugged him. "That's for not taking me with you, bastard."  
  
Duo groaned and his eyes rolled upward into his head.   
  
Mihoshi dropped to her knees, catching him before he split his head on the planks. Tears welled up into her eyes and she supported him. "I loved you, you asshole and you left me behind," she whispered and totally lost it.  
  
--   
  
Ryoko's energy sword sputtered out and she looked around. Body parts littered the ground and puddles of what were once humanoids jiggled as the wind rolled across them. She shivered, her eye's widening and nostrils flaring. She could smell the death, her stomach clenched up and her throat hurt.   
  
Tenchi dropped the Tenchi-ken, halfway to the ground it's blade hissed out of existence.  
  
"What have we done?" he whispered, gorge rising and he fell to his knees, not noticing the blood soaking into his pants. Ryoko followed him, also kneeling upon the ground, her eyes taking in the devastation.   
  
"Sasami, don't look," Ayeka ordered her sister, covering her eyes with her hand. Her own pink eyes were wide as she took in the death around her.  
  
Kiyone let go of the crying Mihoshi's shoulder and gazed over her friends, noticing their reactions with years of police experience.  
  
"They're in shock," Nagi muttered and divested herself of her cloak. "Help me, Kiyone."  
  
Kiyone nodded. "I think there are some blankets in the house. Sasami can help me find them."  
  
"No need, Kiyone." Washu materialized blankets for everyone, including the crying Mihoshi. Kiyone sighed in relief knowing that Washu could take care of everything from there. However, there were still three space ships hovering over the lake.   
  
"It's being taken care of Detective Kiyone." The pleasant tenor voice from the beginning of the confrontation told her. Kiyone's head whipped about, dark teal hair flying.   
  
She stared at this newcomer, not quite sure what to make of him. He seemed to be covered in short white fur, a wide stripe of lavender separated blonde spikes of hair. "Who are you?" She paused for a moment. "What are you?"  
  
The odd man's ruby red eye's danced merrily. "As to who I am, I am Ken-ohki and for what, suffice to say I am a cabbit of many abilities."  
  
Kiyone's jaw dropped. "You're a ship like Ryo-ohki!"   
  
Ken-ohki's blush was difficult to see under the fur, and he picked at his sleeve cuff. "Yeah."  
  
"Meow!" Ryo-ohki agreed as she switched to little girl form. "He's," her brow furrowed, pushing the red gem at the apex of her forehead out and she tried to form the words. "He's," she stopped again.   
  
"Just like you." Ken-ohki finished for her and sighed forlornly. "Mostly," then he grinned again.  
  
Kiyone then noticed something was missing. "The other ship!" She exclaimed looking around.  
  
Nagi materialized in front of her. "Taken care of Detective," she nodded at Ken-ohki and smiled at Ryo-ohki, "A pleasure to see you again, Ryo-ohki."  
  
"Meow!" The little girl replied.   
  
Nagi blinked and glanced at Ken-ohki, who just shrugged.   
  
"Again, Hunter Nagi?" Kiyone glanced at her sharply. "You were after Ryoko a long time ago then. I must admit this was a clever way to get rid of your competition."  
  
Nagi laughed.   
  
Then Kiyone noticed Nagi was wearing a new outfit. A white blouse that stopped under her chest with billowing sleeves and a high collar closed with a small yellow cats eye gem, and underneath it was a keyhole edged in gold; she wore loose black pants with red stripes down the side with black slipper boots that Ryoko was so found of. It was accessorized with a wide belt clasped with another cats eye gem, which was much larger.   
  
"Get rid of my competition," Nagi waved her hands in front of her face, still laughing.   
  
Ken-ohki shook his head. "She's lost it."   
  
Kiyone's eyes widened as she noted that Ken-ohki was wearing the same style of clothes, a partially unbuttoned black shirt with billowing bishop sleeves confined by gold bands half way up the arms. A navy vest laced up the front was over the shirt and he also wore black pants over the boots and a wide belt without the huge clasp.   
  
"I needed that." Nagi wiped away a tear.   
  
--  
  
Washu wrapped her daughter in a hug, debating about moving her into the house and then the diminutive scientist took a good look around and decided it would be for the best to do so.  
  
"Tenchi," she looked over at the young man and groaned. He would be no help, his normally tan face had lost its color and his eyes were glazed over. He took no notice of any other living beings there, his eyes were on the dead ones.  
  
Washu didn't know what to do and so she buried her head into her daughter's shoulder and cried.  
  
"Miss Washu," Ayeka said softly, placing a delicate hand on the distraught child's shoulder.  
  
"She's in shock as well sister," Sasami whispered.  
  
"Sasami, I told you to go back to the house," Ayeka snapped. "I didn't want you to see any of this."  
  
"I can't. I can't," Washu moaned.  
  
Ayeka's gaze sprang back to Washu, her eyes turned trouble. "You can't what, Miss Washu?"  
  
"I can't get through to her, I can't hear her," Washu moaned. "My little Ryoko," she sobbed.  
  
"Sister, we must do something." Sasami sounded desperate; she tugged on her sister's dress.   
  
"I'm not strong enough to lift up Ryoko." Ayeka murmured, her eyes turned away from the scene and glanced over as Nagi began to laugh at something Kiyone had said. "Miss Nagi, now is not the time to be laughing," she said softly and turned back to the more pressing situation. "Lord Tenchi," she spoke up, getting the same result as Washu.  
  
Nothing.  
  
Washu stood up, scrubbing the tears from her eyes. "Ayeka, help me with Ryoko."  
  
"Really, Miss Washu, we are two…" Ayeka trailed to a stop as Washu matured into an adult, older than the first time she had taken that form, Washu was about thirty now, a beautiful thirty well toned and no wrinkles, she wore the regalia of a full Academy professor. "…Different heights," Ayeka felt she had to complete her first sentence. She paused and stared at the scientist. "Miss Washu," Ayeka breathed.  
  
Washu moved over in front of her daughter.  
  
Ryoko's eyes snapped into focus. "Mommy," she mouthed.  
  
Washu started and then visibly forced the shock away from her face. "Yes, Little Ryoko, it's your mommy. I need for you to get up and go into the house."  
  
"All right, mommy." Ryoko struggled to her feet. She closed her eyes for a moment and then looked over at Tenchi. "Tenchi," she gasped. "I won't go in without Tenchi, Mom."  
  
"He'll be right behind you, Ayeka and I will carry him."  
  
"Let me help."   
  
Washu sighed. "Very well, Little Ryoko."  
  
Ryoko shook Tenchi's shoulder. "Tenchi, mom says we need to go in the house."   
  
Tenchi's head moved back and his warm brown eyes blinked. "Ryoko?"  
  
Washu threaded an arm underneath Tenchi's, throwing his arm behind her back and her arm behind his. "Up you get Tenchi."  
  
"I'll get the doors." Sasami scampered off towards the glass sliding door, then stopped. "Oh, there aren't any, never mind."  
  
Washu grimaced as she remembered the shot that had taken the doors and a rampaging Vorgoth all at once. "Sorry about that Tenchi."  
  
"What?" He looked over at her. "Oh, Washu, I didn't see you."  
  
Washu sighed. :Clay was right, Tenchi really can be a blockhead.:  
  
"That Vorgoth was too big for a member of its species," she mused aloud for a moment, earning strange looks from Ayeka and Sasami. "Random thought," she explained.  
  
Ryoko looped her arm with Tenchi's, pulling him up the rest of the way, the blanket draped across his shoulders falling off. "I didn't see that hunter." She was ignoring the tic developing over Ayeka's left eye.  
  
"How did you miss a Vorgoth that big?" Washu raised an eyebrow.   
  
"I was busy Mom."  
  
"Miss Ryoko, I must protest." Ayeka sputtered. "Tenchi can walk on his own."  
  
Tenchi set his feet down firmly on the deck and hissed at the pins and needles sensation it caused. He hated it when his feet went to sleep.  
  
"Well, princess I'm not about to let go so we can test your hypothesis. Besides, I need the support as well."  
  
"Girls," Tenchi said.  
  
Ayeka opened her mouth about to say something when a flowerpot dropped onto her head.  
  
"This isn't a time for fighting." Washu reprimanded, she began to guide Ryoko and Tenchi into the house. "Ayeka, go into my lab and hit the blue button."  
  
"Yes, Miss Washu."  
  
--  
  
Mihoshi cradled Duo, tears dropping onto his face. "Duo," she sighed.   
  
He groaned.   
  
"Duo!" She squeezed him tighter.  
  
"Someone get the name of that ship?" he murmured, then his eyes opened wide, he tried to bolt out of Mihoshi's arms but she was holding to tightly.   
  
"You go anywhere right now and I'll kill you," she hissed into his ear.   
  
Duo stopped struggling and grimaced. "I can't, you're squeezing me."  
  
"I didn't mean to hit you that hard."  
  
"You were so mad at me, that it just happened." Duo sighed and pushed her arms away from him. "Mihoshi," he sat up shaking his head, which was still in pain. He reached up and fingered the bump that was forming on his temple.   
  
"Well," she inched closer to him. "Yeah, that's it exactly. You deserved it, bastard."  
  
"My parents are married, just like yours are," he pointed out and wrapped his arms around her.   
  
Mihoshi giggled, her big blue eyes lighting up.  
  
He smiled back. "You're so beautiful Mihoshi, especially when you smile," he whispered and leaned down and caressed her lips with his own.  
  
"This is how our meeting should have went." She murmured, her breath tickling his lips before she aggressively leaned into the kiss. Mihoshi moaned, it had been so long since they had been together.   
  
"Ahem," Nagi coughed. "I hate to break up this tender moment."  
  
Mihoshi and Duo sprang apart, blushing. Nagi snickered looking between them. "By the great goddess, you think I care! Duo just needs to go into custody, knock him up all you want in there, Mihoshi." She gave them a wink.  
  
Duo's fair complexion made his blush doubly worse than Mihoshi's. Nagi chuckled. "I trust you'll cooperate."   
  
Mihoshi groaned, putting her head in her hands.   
  
Kiyone was staring between her partner and Duo, a look of shock pasted to her face. "I don't get it."  
  
Mihoshi's face twisted into a frown, but Nagi shook her head. "Not now, Detective."  
  
"I know now isn't the time, Hunter Nagi." Mihoshi snapped. Duo reached out and squeezed her hand. "Come on, Duo. Let's get you put away, again," she muttered darkly. "This time no escaping without me."  
  
"I promise," Duo smirked. "I can't promise for the others though."  
  
"I doubt they will be a problem." Nagi muttered.  
  
"AHHHH!" Ayeka ran screaming out of the house. "Get them away from me!" A stream of small machines that looked exactly like Washu running after her, little lasers built into their hands firing at the madly running princess, her skirts gathered into her hands and trying to dodge the late bounty hunter parts.   
  
"I said the blue button!"   
  
"There was three blue buttons, do something. I command you. Azaka, Kamidake, HELP!" Her ponytails were flying straight behind her.   
  
"Don't you dare harm them!" Washu shouted, however it was too late.   
  
The two log guardians swooped down and began dispatching the robots, gears and wires flying.  
  
"My mechas!" Washu wailed.   
  
Two bounty hunters and two galaxy police detectives looked at each other and shrugged.  
  
--  
  
Yosho brought a cup of tea up to his mouth and sipped.  
  
"Most interesting," he murmured after setting the cup back down. He rested his hands upon his thighs. "Most interesting indeed."  
  
--  
  
Threads of rainbow light streamed from the leaves of the spaceship tree Funaho, the reflected off the surface of the lake. Thousands of tiny rays of light joined together and beamed upwards towards the sky, there this large ray of light stayed for a few moments before disappearing.  
  
--  
  
Sasami started as she felt Funaho begin her message, she stared fearfully up the mountain towards her brother's shrine. What had Yosho told Funaho to tell the family?   
  
"Will they come again, Tsunami?"  
  
::No.::  
  
Sasami frowned, "Because Ryoko is only a space pirate."  
  
::Ryoko isn't a member of the royal family.::  
  
"They won't make us go home?"  
  
::You weren't in danger. Ryoko was,:: Tsunami soothed.  
  
"What makes you say that, Tsunami?"  
  
::Because I won't let you leave yet.::  
  
Sasami's blood rushed to her face for a moment and she shuttered the door to her mind. She didn't want to hear anymore.  
  
--  
  
Mayuka's eyes opened, she wiggled a few moments before noting no one was in the room to get her. This bothered her and she narrowed her eyes in concentration. She looked around the room harder. No one, not that she could really see that far.   
  
She frowned and opened her mouth and...  
  
"WAH!"  
  
--  
  
END CHAPTER!  
  
Questions and comments should be sent to one of the emails below! Check out my websites... and tell me what you think please.  
  
We are all caught up now with the edits, next week.. Interrogations Part One: Kiyone has some questions, can anybody answer them?  
  
RingPrincess  
  
ring_princess@hotmail.com   
  
ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/ringprincess/index.html  
  
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tenchimuyofanfiction/  
  
http://www.thetenchireviewer.net 


	5. Chapter Five

A/N Tenchi Muyo! is owned by AIC and Pioneer and not by me. (ending dry and dull disclaimer)  
  
The ideas in this story are mine though and if you'd like to use or borrow them, contact me first at ring_princess@hotmail.com or ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
Tenchi Muyo Saga One: Fate of Empires  
  
"Interrogations Part 1"  
  
By RingPrincess  
  
*A Day Later*  
  
Kiyone wasn't sure she wanted to know why Washu had a set of working cells in her lab. Nor was she certain she wanted to know why Mihoshi had insisted on keeping the bounty hunters here rather than escorting them at the earliest possible convenience to the nearest Galaxy Police station. Then again, Mihoshi had been action oddly ever since Duo Hamikasu had landed with his group of now mostly dead fellow bounty hunters and criminals.   
  
Kiyone stopped before a solid metal door, twitching her turquoise Galaxy Police jacket into place. She pressed her hand to the doorframe, where a solid patch glowed bright red taking samples of her prints, DNA and alpha patterns. Washu was thorough. Nothing got in or out without her knowledge of it, especially after the MASU incident. Though Ryo-ohki had handled it rather well, assimilating the extra MASU and becoming a humanoid. Kiyone shivered, she had seen pictures of what MASU could do without an over mind. The door swung inwards, catching a copy of Washu's crab chime on its way in. Kiyone stepped through, boots clicking on the floor.   
  
--  
  
Washu picked at the edge of her cushion. Her eyes were half shut in needless concentration on this most simple of tasks. In front of her on the laptop the crab screensaver made blooping noises as the red crustaceans ran across the screen. She only looked at it from time to time not even having enough energy to dismiss the computer. Her fingers rolled a few fibers together. Her eyes returned to the computer for a few seconds, she didn't bother to even raise her head.  
  
"Ack!" Washu shouted as she fell backwards and then she scrambled up off the floor peering over the cushion.  
  
A boy, the same age as herself, about twelve had his head stuck through the screen. He laughed, golden eyes dancing merrily above freckled cheeks. He pulled his head out and looked over the screen, the fact he was floating mid air barely registered with Washu. Floating was a regular occurrence.   
  
::Sorry,:: he grinned, not at all meaning the words. ::It was too good not to resist.::  
  
Washu's mouth opened and closed, shocked that the boy had spoken to her mind to mind, breaking her mental shields as if they didn't exist.   
  
::I really shouldn't have interrupted, but it was so easy to get in.:: He winked. ::Cause well, technically I'm not here.:: He spun around in the air, ending up with his head facing the floor, black hair dangling in short spiky locks. He hadn't stopped grinning since he arrived. The boy righted himself, flattening his hair with one hand. ::And no one can see and hear me but you. So, I thought, why not?::  
  
::Why not what?:: Washu crawled back onto the floating cushion, answering him in the same way, mind to mind.  
  
::Why not help you, of course?::  
  
--  
  
The prisoner looked up from the single metal table, the taupe paint on its surface chipping. A smile tugged on his lips. "You are more beautiful than I expected."   
  
Kiyone stiffened, the ends of her fingers going cold. "Porfirio Lotoba," her jaws clenched.  
  
Porfirio nodded, eyelids drooped to half cover his dark gray green eyes. "Duo said that you were a Herlus and beautiful, but he didn't have any pictures."  
  
"Detective Kuramitsu is interrogating Duo Hamikasu." Kiyone refrained from clenching her fists. "Alone." She hid the fact this bothered her considering Mihoshi's ambiguous relationship with the Hunter.   
  
"I bet she is, handcuffs and everything," Porfirio drawled, running his fingers through hair shorn just above his shoulders. It was the same color of his eyes.  
  
Kiyone flushed at all the implications and strode to the opposite side of the table, ignoring the other chair. She slid a handful of dark blue folders across the table. Each folder was blazoned with the Galaxy Police seal.   
  
"My criminal records, how enlightening." Porfirio opened one and grimaced. "My picture is terrible though. Could I get it redone?"  
  
Kiyone exhaled through her teeth.   
  
Porfirio raised both eyebrows and looked up at her. "I'll take that as a no."   
  
"Lotoba, you have been caught by the Galaxy Police engaged in a criminal activity and you have several outstanding warrants against you. You could try to be more serious."  
  
"Life isn't meant to be taken seriously." He leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head.   
  
"However, the GP can lighten your sentence if you are willing to cooperate with us."  
  
"I'd be willing to cooperate with you any time."  
  
Kiyone took a deep breath. "By cooperating it is meant that you give us some information."  
  
Porfirio looked disappointed. "Oh, well that depends on what type of information you want beautiful."  
  
Kiyone glared at him. "Whomever came after Ryoko has been deemed a security risk to Jurai and especially to the Royal Family here on Earth. Any information regarding this matter, especially the identity of the bounty poster would be helpful. One of those folders needs your signature before we can proceed."  
  
Porfirio held the folder up. "This one, Detective Makibi."  
  
Kiyone nodded.  
  
Porfirio dropped it back onto the table. "No."  
  
"No?" Kiyone hissed.   
  
"I wouldn't agree even if we were at Galaxy Police Head Quarters, which this isn't. We are still on Earth Detective, technically you have no jurisdiction here."  
  
"Princess Ayeka of Jurai has given us full authority in this matter."  
  
"Do you have that on record, audio or visual?"  
  
"Not with me."  
  
"Then I refuse to cooperate and I'll tell the others to refuse as well. I have questions that I want answered Detective Makibi."  
  
--  
  
Kiyone slid a piece of paper across the table. Porfirio hadn't moved far, his nose buried behind one of the previous folders, reading his record. He began to laugh.   
  
Kiyone narrowed her eyes. "Your misdeeds make you laugh?"  
  
"I didn't do that one job!" Porfirio chuckled, setting the folder down and picked up the piece of paper and read it over. "It was a very clever look a like. He later ended up dead."   
  
"The authorization you requested." Kiyone gritted her teeth. "Should I add a murder to your list of crimes?"  
  
"Innocent until proven guilty, love. And I didn't kill him, an assassin did."  
  
"Don't call me love. I am not your love."  
  
"You could be."   
  
"I don't want to be."  
  
"You need to relax more."  
  
"You need to help us."  
  
Porfirio sighed. "How about information for information?"  
  
"You're dealing. You are on the wrong side of the table Lotoba to be dealing."  
  
"You are already doing things outside of normal Galaxy Police behavior patterns." He stood up. "For example, you haven't taken us to Head Quarters. If you were, you would have taken us already. What is keeping us here?"  
  
"Why does it matter?"  
  
Porfirio was pleased to note that they were the same height. "I already told you why it matters."  
  
"Oh, Galaxy Police behavior patterns, right." Kiyone crossed her arms, staring straight at him.   
  
"Look, I'll tell you what you want to know about your security risk if you tell me why we are still locked in Washu Hakubi's lab." He reached behind him and picked up the folder with the deal inside. Kiyone looked between him and the folder. She bit her lip.  
  
"Fine."  
  
Porfirio grinned.   
  
"Male Herlus, you're all the same."  
  
"It isn't limited to just Herlus or just males." Lotoba noted as he signed the deal.   
  
"Hormone ridden …"  
  
"Nekoia," Porfirio interrupted.  
  
Kiyone stopped mid diatribe. "The Cat Empire?"  
  
"Don't let the Nekoians hear you call it that. Yes, the Nekoian Empire is the party who contacted us."  
  
"Who exactly within the Empire?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Who, Lotoba?" Kiyone grabbed his shirt.  
  
"I don't know. Why are we still here?"  
  
"Mihoshi, now who exactly contacted you?"  
  
"I don't know. Duo was silent about that. He often kept such things to himself. He wants to protect us like a Captain should."  
  
Kiyone let go and took a few steps back. "Mihoshi won't let me near him."  
  
"I don't blame her, not that you are much a risk to that relationship."  
  
Kiyone stalked to the door her hand on the doorknob.  
  
Porfirio sighed and crossed his arms. "There's no need to conceal your status from me, Kiyone."  
  
Kiyone turned the handle. "I guess not, but then again I'm not trying to conceal it from you."  
  
--  
  
Fuming, Kiyone made her way through the lab. The different planets and their peaceful settings weren't helping her mood. She ignored the slight tingling sensation of the lift as it took her to Washu. The small scientist was sitting on her cushion staring at the air above her computer.   
  
Kiyone cleared her throat, it sounded harsh in the silence. Washu jumped and turned hastily. Her sixth sense about visitors in her lab wasn't in evidence.  
  
"Oh Kiyone. I didn't hear you come up," she said, waving a hand.   
  
Kiyone tried not to notice the dark circles under Washu's green eyes or her rumpled clothing.  
  
"That's why I made some noise."  
  
"I hope it's something important. I'm busy, very busy," Washu frowned.   
  
Kiyone held back a smile. Thinking Washu was nowhere close to being busy, as her work was untouched before her.   
  
"Porfirio has given me a clue about what is going on."   
  
"Ahh yes," Washu hit a key and stared at it the live screen for a moment. "Nekoia wasn't it?"  
  
Kiyone shifted and grimaced. "Correct, as Porfirio is Hamikasu's second this information should be reliable."  
  
"Yet you're not counting on it." Washu nodded. "Wise decision, Detective."  
  
"If it is, it will give me a starting point with the others, particularly this contact. I am going to assume it was a message. Anyways, all contacts would go through the communications officer."  
  
"Cerulea, a Parbuteo," Washu bit her lip.   
  
Kiyone nodded again.   
  
Washu sighed. "There hasn't been any information that I know of about Nekoia in over seven thousand years, but then again, I've been in confinement for about five thousand years."  
  
"That was the last war with Jurai, correct?"  
  
"Yes, an ancient rivalry that I doubt has faded. I'll try to gain information from my end." Washu smiled. "I am the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe."   
  
"And I'll go back to getting information from mine. Thank you, Little Washu."  
  
  
  
"It will take time."  
  
"I don't know how much we have." Kiyone sighed and retreated back to the prison level of the lab. Frowning, Washu watched her go, it wasn't until the Galaxy Police officer was out of sight that Washu turned around to face her computer again.  
  
He was still there. The imp of a boy that had come to help her, or so he claimed. He wasn't making much sense. :I shouldn't call him boy either. He could be as old or older than I am.: Considering Washu's twenty-thousand years this was something hard to swallow.   
  
::Calling me boy, probably isn't a good idea.:: He nodded and laughed.   
  
::Don't snoop.:: Washu snorted and hopped off the cushion. She started to walk back and forth.   
  
::You 'snoop' on Ryoko all the time.:: He shrugged.  
  
Washu stopped at the mention of Ryoko's name. Her chest felt painful and heavy. She whirled on him. ::You said you came to help.::  
  
::I did,:: the boy nodded.   
  
::Then help me with my daughter.::  
  
The boy sighed. ::My help is limited though.::  
  
Washu frowned. ::I don't understand, explain.::  
  
::I can't just tell you the answers. You wouldn't want to be told the answers anyway.:: The boy grinned again, crossing his legs Indian style in mid air. ::It is a catch-22. I can't tell you, but you wouldn't want to be told and round and round it goes. Makes life easier.::  
  
::So, I'm supposed to figure it out myself?::  
  
The boy nodded. ::I can push and prod, you have all the information or clues,:: he winked recalling the conversation earlier with Kiyone, ::you need. As you so frequently proclaim, you are the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe. I am sure we can figure this out. You like figuring things out.::  
  
::Emotions aren't science!::   
  
::Of course they are. You are just letting your emotions cloud your judgment.:: He snorted.   
  
::I want my daughter back.:: Washu's voice was harsh and she crossed her arms.   
  
The boys face lengthened in an expression of sympathy. ::If you want the daughter you remember from your memories. I can't help you, that's no longer possible. Perhaps if five thousand years hadn't passed and seven hundred of them for Ryoko weren't spent in a cold dark cave, and perhaps if those five thousand years you weren't locked in a giant crystal, perhaps things could have been returned to how they were.::  
  
::But it happened that way.::  
  
::Correct.:: The boy crossed his own arms.   
  
::Meaning?:: Washu raised an eyebrow.   
  
::You tell me.:: A corner of his mouth tugged upwards into a half smile and he shook his head, a lock of hair fell over one eye and he brushed it back.  
  
Washu closed her eyes, brain racing. This very problem had been on her mind the week she spent in isolation and mourning for her lost daughter. It had simmered on the back burner of her brain while she though of other things and even of nothing. And the answers were back there, just out of reach. Understanding dawned and she opened her eyes, her shoulders relaxing for the first time in a long while. ::It means that I must accept Ryoko for who she is now and must accept myself for who I am now.::  
  
The boy raised his eyebrows. ::Wish to rephrase your goal.?::  
  
Washu nodded. ::I want to be Ryoko's mother again.::  
  
He brightened and bounced up and down grinning from ear to ear. His good cheer back. ::You're still a fast learner, Washu.::  
  
--  
  
Leopold crossed his legs and rested his paw like hands on the top knee. His catlike face was composed and his mane fastidiously brushed. Kiyone was sure that his normal dress was much more gaudy than the plain cream coveralls that Washu had provided all the prisoners. Even so, there was not a wrinkle in the white fabric. :How did he get a hold of an iron?: Kiyone wondered for a moment. She looked down and rustled through her notes to cover her confusion.  
  
"Leopold, your files say that you were offered a position within the Galaxy Police. An officer's commission and training at the academy yet you turned it down and became the navigation officer aboard Duo Hamikasu's ship."  
  
"That it correct."  
  
"Why? It is quite an opportunity."   
  
"I desired to be different from my brethren that also have chosen to sail the sea of stars."  
  
Kiyone nodded, making the note. There wasn't anything one like her could say to something like that and so she moved on. "When did you first me Duo Hamikasu?"  
  
"Roughly ten years ago. It was shortly after he was exiled," Leopold frowned.   
  
"Did he give you any hint to his past?"  
  
"No. He doesn't talk about it much. Nor do I think he wants to."  
  
"Did Duo have any contact with Nekoia prior to the message for capturing Ryoko?"  
  
"Not in the last six years after he escaped from prison. I was not a member of his crew before that. He didn't have a crew before that, we were all good friends."  
  
"What made you a crew then?"  
  
"One ship, many people, a higher profit margin," Leopold shrugged. "Money is a grand lure. Duo encouraged our partnerships."  
  
Kiyone scratched something down on her pad. "Did you have access to the ship's logs and records prior to Hamikasu's imprisonment?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"They'd been erased before his confinement." Leopold sighed.   
  
"Why?"  
  
"I have not been around the one who did it long enough to ask."   
  
"You know who did it?" Kiyone's eyes widened and she leaned forwards. "I take it then, Duo didn't erase his own ship's records."  
  
"No. However, the erasure was completed with his express permission and even support."  
  
"Who erased the records?"   
  
"I was told by Duo that Mihoshi Kuramitsu had done it for his safety."  
  
"Yet, you've never heard this from Detective Kuramitsu?"  
  
"No. Detective Makibi, I have not. Before this assignment I had not met Mihoshi before."   
  
Kiyone chuckled. :That solves one mystery. No wonder the entire department didn't know anything about Duo's ship. There was nothing to know. Mihoshi didn't say a word either, which was clever of her. There are times she can't keep her mouth shut.: Kiyone picked up a piece of paper. "Very well, what was your reaction when you learned that the message Cerulea had received was from the Nekoian Empire?"  
  
"Excitement, I looked forward to visiting a sector of space that few of my species had been too and meeting the fabled People of the Crystal. Alas, I wasn't to meet the war-like Nekoians, but I was able to stare upon their stars and technology and that was satisfying."   
  
"How did you know you would visit?"  
  
"It is standard operating procedure to visit with each client if possible."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Duo has to make sure that the people are honest and that they will pay us after the job is completed. And often clients do not want to risk sending details through normal communication channels. It is too dangerous."  
  
"Especially if the message was intercepted," Kiyone nodded. "After receiving the message, what happened?"  
  
"He listened to it and forwarded the navigational information to me and I created a round about course to them."   
  
"Where were they?"  
  
"In Nekoian space near the Jurain border, other than that I couldn't tell you."   
  
"Are the coordinates on file?"  
  
"No, for the safety of all involved they were erased from our systems. It was a requirement of meeting the client."  
  
  
  
"Understandable. After arriving at this meeting point what happened?"  
  
"Duo visited the ship of crystal." The Qualeon looked like he was about to go off about the ship and so Kiyone interrupted.  
  
"And what did he do on board?"  
  
The Qualeon frowned, coming back to the plain room around him. "I don't know, I wasn't there, anything I tell you would be hearsay."  
  
"Like with Mihoshi," Kiyone snorted. "Very well. Duo returns from the ship and then?"  
  
"He ordered I lay in a course for the current location of the Nest. Don't ask for them, I can't tell you."  
  
Kiyone ground her teeth. "Why not?"  
  
"All navigators have been given strict," he paused, "therapy' not to release the course of the Nest"  
  
Kiyone rubbed her temples. "Meaning you've been drugged, hypnotized, and so on and even under threat of death wouldn't be able to give it up."  
  
"Correct."  
  
"Fine, The Nest," Kiyone gritted out. "And then what?"  
  
"We proceeded here."  
  
"What happened at the Nest?"  
  
"We spread the word, all four of us that we were holding a meeting for Bounty Hunters at the different Guild offices where we are members. Then when the hunters were gathered Duo laid out the parameters of the job."  
  
"Which were?"  
  
"Ryoko Hakubi alive or proof of her death if that was too difficult. The client preferred Ryoko alive and with a bounty of three-billion Nekoian or four-billion Jurain or 4.25 billion Galactic standard most of us weren't going to argue with the alive detail," Qualeon paused.   
  
"Go on." Kiyone was remarkable calm, taking in stride that if the bounty wasn't high enough they would of killed Ryoko. They had already tried and failed.  
  
"There was the expected uproar from the other bounty hunters. Crew included, this was the first time we had full disclosure as well. Then Nagi showed up and quieted the whole lot down. She doesn't say much," Leopold paused and shook his head. "I overheard her tell Duo later that she was coming with us because it suited her." He stopped completely for a few minutes, Kiyone didn't press as Leopold's green-gold eyes stared at the table. He looked like he could continue at any moment. He took a deep breath and growled. "She used us."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Nagi used us as a means to an end," Leopold snarled glaring at Kiyone.  
  
Kiyone leaned backwards. "What end?"  
  
Leopold smiled, his needle sharp teeth glistened in the light. "The person we were all after, Ryoko Hakubi."  
  
--  
  
Rieshu twitched her emerald skirts into place and looked around the room. It was still empty. Nothing had changed since the last time she checked, thirty seconds ago. She took a deep breath and reached out curling her long fingers around a spear of red orange crystal.   
  
:Take a deep breath through the nose into the stomach, that is how you support your voice to sing the crystal.: The voice was soothing, even if it was a tad nasally. The nasal sounds seemed a more an affectation than a representation of the true voice. Rieshu smiled softly at the memory and opened her mouth and sang. :Each crystal has a note, a resonance, and those that are matched are suited to give instantaneous communication throughout the universe.:   
  
The note was clear and true surrounding the crystal. The crystal began to shiver and answered back a third under her note. There was a quick flash of light and Rieshu cut off her singing.  
  
"Captain," she murmured, releasing her fingers from around the crystal.   
  
The crystal projected the shrouded figure of the captain. The clothes the captain wore disguised any distinguishing features and even the captain's gender. "Goddess," it acknowledged.   
  
"Demi goddess only," Rieshu reminded.  
  
"A small detail," the captain made a passing motion with its hands.   
  
"Time is limited, Captain. How are things?"  
  
"Well enough, Ryoko lives." The Captain paused. "She has changed, demi-goddess. She remembers little of her time with Kagato and mostly the bad."   
  
"That is a problem."  
  
"A small one, I'm afraid. She hides it well, however she does have flashes of pain. We are sure that her brain is," another pause, "healing."   
  
"Healing?"  
  
"That is the only way it can be described. Over the small time I have known her. The readings we are taking with the crystals clearly show her brain changing. They are showing more consistency to the first scan of her brain that is on record in our files. I have great hopes that she will come back to herself."  
  
"She won't ever be completely herself again."  
  
"She'll be close, and that is good enough." The Captain ducked its head. "Even better, she has a child, not of blood but a child of her heart."  
  
"This is the best news I have heard yet," Rieshu smiled. "I will be in touch, Captain Nagi."   
  
The Captain bowed and the navy cloak shifted for a moment, showing lilac hair and red eyes. "As will I, Lady Rieshu."   
  
--  
  
END CHAPTER!  
  
At last a new chapter!... and yes, I did have to repost from the beginning... it's a quirk. So, Next Time on Fate of Empires: The interrogations continue Ken-ohki incites Ryo-ohki to do something rash...  
  
Questions and comments should be sent to one of the emails below! Check out my websites... and tell me what you think please.  
  
RingPrincess  
  
ring_princess@hotmail.com   
  
ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/ringprincess/index.html  
  
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tenchimuyofanfiction/  
  
http://www.thetenchireviewer.net 


	6. Chapter Six

A/N Tenchi Muyo! is owned by AIC and Pioneer and not by me. (ending dry and dull disclaimer)  
  
The ideas in this story are mine though and if you'd like to use or borrow them, contact me first at ring_princess@hotmail.com or ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
Thanks go out to JohnnyG who had the massive job of editting this entire story!   
  
Tenchi Muyo Saga One: Fate of Empires  
  
"Interrogations Part 2"  
  
By RingPrincess  
  
*The Same Day*  
  
"Cerulea, as the communications officer you intercept the messages aboard ship?" Kiyone folded her hands in front of her on the taupe table.   
  
"Yes." The Parbuteo ruffled her feathers. "That is my duty."  
  
"Did you intercept the message for this job?"  
  
Cerulea's beak clicked shut. "I intercepted the message," she trilled. "It was plain text, odd in this day but not completely unheard of."  
  
Kiyone adjusted her headband. "Why isn't it completely unheard of?"  
  
"Text messages are generally reports, manifests or occasionally customers that want to conceal their identity."  
  
"Wouldn't the identity be given in the route address?" Kiyone didn't want to think why Cerulea would get messages containing manifests or ship reports. However, pirating and looting as well as bounty hunting were ways the crew made money.   
  
"Not always, a good communications officer knows the ways around it. Some can even erase start points from the routing header or replace them with false."  
  
"Did you check for authenticity?"  
  
"I always check everything three times before informing the Captain of a new message."  
  
"When you received the message what was your reaction?"  
  
"Disbelief."  
  
"Did you open the message?"  
  
"As it was addressed . . ."  
  
"Yes or no?"  
  
"No."   
  
"Why not?"  
  
"It was addressed directly to the Captain." Cerulea's feathers raised in annoyance and she forcibly calmed herself, making them lie flat.   
  
"Who else knew of the messages arrival?"   
  
"Everyone, messages are not a secret and are actually next to impossible to keep secret."  
  
"Their reactions."  
  
"I don't know, it is hard for me to read other species expressions still." Cerulea ducked her head and clamped her beak shut.   
  
Kiyone noted this and proceeded to her next line of questioning. "When you gave the message to the captain, what did he do?"  
  
"He went to the waiting room off the bridge, his office and had the letter dictated to him by the ship's computer."  
  
"Were you there?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then how do you know that the computer dictated it to him?"  
  
"The Ship's voice is higher pitch than most. I can hear it easily, though not always clearly. In fact it sounds quite a bit like your partners."  
  
"Great," Kiyone muttered. "He's obsessed. Could you hear any of the message?" she spoke up so Cerulea could hear.  
  
"The walls are thick enough to muffle the words."  
  
"Yes or no, Cerulea?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Did you hear any of it?"   
  
"No."  
  
"What happened after he came out from the office?"  
  
"He ordered Leopold to go to the coordinates supplied in the message. Leopold complied and we met a golden crystal ship at them. The Captain transferred over to that to discuss business."  
  
"Away from the crew?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Was this safe?" Kiyone adjusted her headband and glanced sharply at Cerulea.   
  
"Of course." Cerulea's pupils went small, "If it had been otherwise he wouldn't have gone."  
  
"How did he look when he came back?"  
  
"Whiter than normal, his pupils were large and he kept ruffling his hair."  
  
"Then what happened?"  
  
"We went to the Nest, where we recruited other Bounty Hunters and Nagi joined us, then we headed here."  
  
"Thank you Cerulea." Kiyone snapped her notepad shut.  
  
"My pleasure. I am always willing to help a friend of the Captain's life mate."  
  
"Duo's life mate?"  
  
Cerulea's feathers flattened. "You are a friend of Mihoshi and Mihoshi is Duo's life mate."  
  
"Life mate? Is that like a spouse, husband, wife thing?"  
  
Cerulea blinked. "Oh yes, it is a pairing that will never be broken."  
  
"Mihoshi!" Kiyone ran out the door.  
  
--  
  
Duo reached up and caressed Mihoshi's cheek. "You're worried again." He couldn't help but admire the way the sun created areas of light and shadow on her face.   
  
Mihoshi nodded and looked away. Her gaze took in the entire room. It had large windows and giant orange cushions in the shape of carrots. "I can't help it. I see their influence everywhere."  
  
Duo didn't move from where his head was on her lap. "You think that the Council even had a hand in bringing Nekoia to choose me to capture Ryoko."  
  
"I am sure of it. We are the Keepers of the Balance, Duo." Her voice rose in distress and tears pooled in her deep blue eyes. Duo sighed.   
  
"You're jumping at shadows," he closed his eyes. "Nekoia is a mystery to them as much as it is a mystery to the rest of the Universe. And the Council and most especially the Chancellor care nothing about whether or not you and I meet again"  
  
"Oh yes they do, Duo," Mihoshi hissed, looking down at him. She narrowed her eyes. "And I know what great lengths you've gone to keep me in control when I'm at Head Quarters. I am surprised my Grandfather hasn't seen the bond lunacy that has gripped me for the last six years." Her features softened. "I am grateful for it as well."  
  
"I think they diagnosed it as work related stress." Duo chuckled, his eyes reopened into slits that barely showed their bright green color.   
  
Mihoshi blinked. "You bastard, you…"  
  
"…changed the records for your protection." He intertwined his fingers with hers, "returning a favor."   
  
"My grandmother," Mihoshi sighed.  
  
"The Chancellor was against my exile from the beginning." Duo frowned. "She knew that I was the only viable heir my family had. So much so that my exile was a farce, for someday they will have to recognize me as their son again."  
  
"I was going to say that my grandmother, as you pointed out, the Chancellor of the Council most likely has seen through your record changing."  
  
"Oh, she is sharp, however didn't it ever occur to you that your grandmother might be happy for us," Duo chuckled.   
  
Mihoshi raised her eyebrows and shook her head, blond hair gliding across her bare shoulders. "I'm not sure what to think then."   
  
"Then don't think and kiss me," Duo's green eyes twinkled. Mihoshi giggled and complied.   
  
Mihoshi and Duo jumped apart as there was pounding on the door. "Mihoshi!" Kiyone yelled from the other side. "Let me in."  
  
Mihoshi and Duo stared at each other and Duo shrugged, Mihoshi rolled her eyes. She pushed herself up and walked across the room to open the door. Kiyone pounded on the other side again. "Mihoshi!"   
  
Mihoshi slid the door open a slight ways. "Yes, Kiyone?"  
  
"What the hell are you two playing at?" Kiyone hissed.   
  
Mihoshi sighed and slid the door open the rest of the way. "Perhaps you should come in."   
  
--  
  
Nagi stared upwards, "I know you're up there, Ryoko."  
  
Ryoko grumbled, the cross section where the two major beams met in the living room was considered her space. She rolled over and looked down. "So, what do you want, Nagi?"  
  
"If you aren't too busy," Nagi grinned, hand on her hip.   
  
"She is never busy." Ayeka grimaced from the couch.   
  
"Hey, you're watching soap operas." Ryoko defended.   
  
Nagi rolled her eyes. "I was wondering if you'd like to have a bout."  
  
Ryoko floated downwards and stared at Nagi until they were eye to eye. Ryoko was still upside down of course. "You mean fight?"   
  
Sasami walked in from the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel, a large carrot on her apron.   
  
Nagi nodded. "Yeah."  
  
Ryoko blinked a few times and bit the inside of her lip. "Why?"  
  
"Why does it matter?"  
  
Ryoko laughed. "You're on."  
  
--  
  
Washu grimaced.   
  
::This might not happen in a day, Washu.:: Imp reminded her. ::In fact, I'd be very surprised if it did.::  
  
::I have to know, now!::  
  
::Haste makes waste, Washu.::   
  
Washu glanced behind her as the crab bell jangled. "Back again so soon, Kiyone."   
  
Kiyone was shaking her head and blushing furiously. "Washu, what would you say if I told you that Mihoshi and Duo were in effect married?"  
  
Washu sniggered. "I'd say that I wish Duo the greatest luck in the universe. He's going to need it."  
  
Kiyone was silent and Washu's face stilled.  
  
"They're married?" Washu asked.  
  
Kiyone nodded. "By the rules of their culture, basically."  
  
Washu tapped her lips with a finger. "Hmm, how strange. There is nothing in Mihoshi's records indicating that she is married or otherwise attached to anyone."   
  
Imp was laughing and Washu couldn't even glare at him. ::Hush!::  
  
::She can't hear me, so why should I?::  
  
::You're distracting me.::  
  
"I need to use Yagami. I have things to ask Head Quarters and Intelligence."   
  
"Go right ahead, Yagami is your ship after all."  
  
"Just warning you that I'll be away for a few hours."  
  
"That short?"  
  
Kiyone snorted, "At most a few hours." She twisted her cube and disappeared.   
  
Washu turned to Imp. ::Interesting, Mihoshi married and I know Kiyone is hiding something.::  
  
::Don't dwell on it, we're all hiding something.::  
  
::Even you?:: Washu raised an eyebrow.   
  
::Even me.::  
  
--  
  
  
  
Ryoko arched backwards from her waist. Nagi's sword barely missed her torso as she leaned. Instead of pulling back up Ryoko used the energy and momentum she had gained to flip over backwards, kicking Nagi in the chin. The planks of the boardwalk adjoining the house were rough on her hands. Nagi reeled backwards and Ryoko re-lighted her sword as she came back to vertical.   
  
Ryo-ohki shifted in her position at the end of the dock.   
  
::It will help Ryoko:: Ken-ohki added.  
  
::She blocks me out, when she's in pain.:: Ryo-ohki's ears drooped and she huddled into the planks. Ken-ohki nuzzled her dark furred cheek with his chin.   
  
::Perhaps you weren't meant to be as close as you are mind wise.::  
  
::I've never known another way.:: Ryo-ohki nuzzled him back absentmindedly accepting the comfort. ::I'm not really the Ryo-ohki you remember.::  
  
Ken-ohki drew back a little, his own ears drooping. He looked over at where their two mistresses sparred in a manner that parodied graceful dance movements, their swords providing a surreal glow to the scene. One slip in motion and one of them wouldn't walk away from the encounter.   
  
  
  
::You were killed before this and regenerated.:: He blinked, a tear falling from his eye. ::Yet, if you don't want to do it, I shall stop mentioning it. This is and must be your decision. I just wanted to remind you of the option.::  
  
::Those crystals, Ken, they are cabbits too, they can change like we can. I've seen them do so.::  
  
::Mirrors, no parts of you, Ryo.:: Ken-ohki hopped away.  
  
Ryo-ohki watched him leave for a few moments. Ken-ohki looked back for a second, passing through Nagi's feet and into the house. Ryoko's and Nagi's blades created a triangle upwards. Nagi spun to get closer to her opponent using Ryoko's sword as a pivot. Ryo-ohki turned and heaved a sigh, staring into the waters of the lake at the bottom rested hundreds if not thousands of blue, diamond shaped crystals. Crystals that had been part of her and if Ken-ohki was correct could be part of her again.  
  
Sasami had her nose pressed to the glass doors, forbidden to go outside by Ayeka who was afraid that she'd get hurt. Ken-ohki had taken Ryo-ohki's accustom perch in between her pony tails and she oohed and aahed as Ryoko and Nagi moved back and forth. Her and Ken-ohki's gazes were in the same direction by they were watching different actions of different people.   
  
Ryoko wasn't going to be able to bring her sword around fast enough to harm Nagi. Nagi's sword was also out of play, though not as far as Ryoko's was and she was too close to Ryoko to use it anyways. Nagi pressed her back up against Ryoko's chest and grabbed one of the girl's arms throwing Ryoko over her shoulder and onto her butt in front of her.  
  
Ryo-ohki hopped off the end of the dock.   
  
Ryoko phased through the gray planks, Nagi's sword digging deep into the wood where she had been. Ryoko shot through the planks behind Nagi who was prying her sword from the wood. Ryoko made a sweeping move with her sword yet Nagi spun and deflected it last second. The swords humming as they came close to each other and crackling as they met.  
  
Ryo-ohki was at the approximate middle of the lake. She had used the surface tension; the skin on top of the water like it was dry land. Looking down it was easier to see the crystals glistening as the sun bounced off them. She closed her eyes and concentrated on arising into the air, a parody of the flying she did in ship form. She flew straight up until she was high above the water for a cabbit where she hovered.   
  
The jewel in her forehead lit up with an inner light, glowing stoplight red, then the light disappeared. The glow pulsed on and off in a steady rhythm as she concentrated.   
  
"Mreow!" A crystal on the bottom stood on its end and tore through the water, creating a splash as it made the transition from water to air.  
  
"Mreow! Mreow! Mreow!" The other crystals came to the surface, shedding water drops that created rainbows above the lake.  
  
Attracted by Sasami's squeals of delight, Ayeka came and stood behind her sister. Washu dashed out of the rounded door under the stairs, sirens hooting and bells ringing abruptly starting and being cut off as the door opened and closed, the sound of the crab door chime lost among the noise.  
  
"The crystals!" Washu cried, her green eyes wide.  
  
Ken-ohki was trembling on top of Sasami's head, jaws pressed tightly together.  
  
Ryoko lunged forwards and snapped back into the regular position as Nagi batted her sword aside. They sparring blocked the view of the lake.   
  
The crystals flew across the lake in mass confusion, as they arranged themselves, none touched Ryo-ohki and none crashed into each other. They formed a series of inset circles with Ryo-ohki as the locus.   
  
"Mreow! Mreow!" They kept crying as more and more still arose from the depths.   
  
"The inner most circle of crystals is different from the rest." Mihoshi observed coming up behind Washu, her clothes were wrinkled and she was trying to get her long blonde wavy locks under control as they were down around her shoulders.   
  
"Ryoko isn't doing anything." Washu hammered her fist into an open hand.   
  
"Ryoko's got her hands full trying to ward off Nagi." Sasami grinned. "Nagi is really good."  
  
"Too bad they aren't really trying to kill each other." Ayeka muttered.  
  
Ryo-ohki's gem flooded with light and stabilized. Her eyes snapped open, liquid pools of amber. Beyond this point there was no turning back. She could let the crystals fall and nothing untoward would happen.  
  
The crystals remained stable.  
  
Humanoid transformation was instantaneous. Ryo-ohki tossed her hair and glanced around the circles of crystals that were about the height of her waist. She still felt top heavy in her adult form but she figured when you were floating it didn't matter. She looked down and noticing her fingernails were digging into her palms she relaxed her hands and then her arms to her side. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath.  
  
It was time for phase two.  
  
--  
  
The loud crack of electricity rending through the air disturbed Yosho from his meditations. The build up had been so slow he hadn't noticed it until the sound rent the sky and it was close. Frowning he looked out his picture window into a sunny afternoon. There were no thunderstorms predicted that day and Funaho wasn't acting up. The weather outside wasn't right for what he had just heard.  
  
"Tenchi!" he called.  
  
There was no immediate response. Yosho grimaced. "Tenchi," still no response from his wayward grandson. Yosho began to grumble and stood up to find him. The boy had been sweeping the stairs.   
  
There was a faint yet distinct hum to the outside air Yosho felt and heard it as he slid the door open and walked out of the shrine office. The hum was also building, Yosho's arm hairs stood up and his skin puckered.  
  
He found Tenchi at a bend in the shrine stairs, the bend from which you had the clearest view of the house and grounds.  
  
A trail of pale blue electricity jumped with a pop from one crystal to another, fingers branching from the main spar to hit the surface of the lake. Yosho grunted as the thrum died for a few moments smoothing the hairs on his harm. Then it began to start up again building at a louder and faster pace.  
  
The smaller figures of Ryoko and Nagi moved across the boardwalk, indistinct forms could be seen through the windows.   
  
"Well boy?"  
  
"I don't know grandpa," Tenchi leaned on his broom, watching with narrowed eyes and hunched shoulders.   
  
"Hmm, then we watch."  
  
--  
  
Washu was struggling against Mihoshi and Ayeka. "Let me go. I have to get out there."  
  
"You might get hurt," Mihoshi tightened her grip, trying to be reasonable with the scientist. "Look at all that electricity. Washu you can't go."  
  
"I won't get hit," Washu snapped. "I have better shields than that."  
  
"Ms. Washu," Ayeka interjected. "We don't even know what is going on here. Think for a moment, if you open that door the electricity will try to get in here."  
  
::Ryoko! Ryoko!:: Washu pounded on the opaque wall between their minds. ::Stop Ryo-ohki!::  
  
Washu stilled, her eyes focused on the floating nude adult figure of Ryo-ohki surrounded by crystals throwing off colored lightning, but in her peripheral vision was a white fuzzy ear.   
  
She grabbed it.  
  
"Chieoaw!" Ken-ohki screamed as he dangled from Washu's fingers.  
  
"Transform this instant, Ken-ohki and tell me what is going on!" She screamed back trying to be heard over the crackling of lightening. The greatest scientific genius in the universe did not like being out of the loop. After vision trails of bright green and blue swam across her vision as she glared at the male cabbit.  
  
::Put me down then!:: Ken-ohki 'shouted.'  
  
Washu dropped him as if scalded, her eyes wide. Ken-ohki took the chance to get a safer distance away from her. A safe decision he felt in Washu's irate condition and phased through the sliding glass doors.   
  
His vision blurred and there was a feeling of disorientation as he transformed. He glared at Washu and moved out of direct line of site rubbing his ear.  
  
"It's a memory protocol," he shouted through the glass, over the lightning induced thunder and the thrums and crackles of Nagi's and Ryoko's energy swords. Saying that, he headed to the end of the dock, ear throbbing.  
  
Ryoko and Nagi passed before the doors blocking everyone's view of Ken-ohki's retreat but Sasami. She giggled, her fertile imagination comparing Ken-ohki in his black clothing to a dark priest directing an elaborate and evil ritual as he stopped at the end of the dock, arms crossed and legs spread shoulder width apart.  
  
Ryoko and Nagi's blades were locked and they stared at each other, creating their own lightning of gold wrapping around the blades. Ryoko forced Nagi back step by step.  
  
The crystals swung using their fattest parts as a fulcrum, individually wreathed in rings of lightning of blue, green, pink, yellow and purple. They stopped needle sharp ends pointing at Ryo-ohki.  
  
Nagi broke the deadlock, throwing Ryoko and her blade back. Ryoko stumbled.   
  
Ryo-ohki rotated once to see that all the crystals were ready. She saw Ken-ohki on the ground watching her, his teeth piercing his lower lip, blood trickling down his jaw. She looked straight into his eyes and smiled.  
  
'Phase three initiated,' she thought. Then the innermost circle of crystals rammed her through.  
  
--  
  
"Ryo-ohki!" voices cried from various parts of the area.   
  
Nagi leaned sideways and snap kicked high at Ryoko, who caught her ankle and spun her to the ground.  
  
Ayeka's hands covered Sasami's eyes and the crystals poured one circle at a time into Ryo-ohki. All Sasami could do was listen as Washu moaned. Mihoshi and Ayeka's intakes of breath were even less enlightening.  
  
--  
  
'I am a portal, a doorway. I cannot be harmed. I am the path, the way to the goal. Pain and the appearance of pain is an illusion. I scream because it is the only response I can give to what I am feeling.  
  
'I scream as the intensity of this feeling sweeps away what I am, who I am. I have no choice and the darkness...  
  
'I am...  
  
'I am Ryo...  
  
'Ryo-ohki.  
  
'I am a Nekoian cabbit. My job is to serve and protect my sister, Ryoko.  
  
'I am the mate of Ken-ohki, the mother of our children and the love of his life as he is the love of mine.  
  
'I am the creation of Washu, her daughter and child.  
  
'I am Ryo-ohki and I am whole.'  
  
--  
  
Ken-ohki caught Ryo-ohki as she fell from the blue sky and cradled her in his arms. There were no blemishes on her skin or blood drying to show that over a thousand crystals had pierced her body.  
  
Ryoko laid her sword across the prone Nagi's throat. Nagi grinned and grabbed Ryoko's arms again and switched their positions, her own sword now across Ryoko's throat and her legs pinning Ryoko in place.  
  
Ryoko closed her eyes and took deep breaths to try and fill her starving lungs, sweat dried on her forehead.   
  
The door squeaked open letting Washu and the others tumble out from their observation posts. They ignored the two combatants and gathered around Ken-ohki as he glided towards the house.   
  
Washu reached towards Ryo-ohki. "Let me take her."  
  
Ken-ohki brought Ryo-ohki closer to his chest. "Ryo's fine, she just needs a few hours of rest to recuperate."   
  
"Ryo-ohki has been run through by silicon based crystals, of course she needs her rest." Washu couldn't rein in her sarcasm. "I need to run tests to see if she is going to come out of her rest."  
  
"Ryo-ohki," Sasami moaned and ran her hand down the girl's arm.  
  
"This is a reaction that is well within parameters and she should not only remain stable for the next few hours, but improve by significant margins after that." Ken-ohki shoved Washu aside and bumped Sasami ahead of him into the house. "She'll be hungry." He turned sideways as not to clip Ryo-ohki's head or feet as he went across the threshold.   
  
Washu gritted her teeth and stomped in after him. "You may be sure of this..."  
  
"And you should trust me as Ryo does."  
  
"You," Washu accused. "You prodded her into doing this."  
  
"I did no such thing. I gave her the option and the choice was up to Ryo. I would have been sad if my..." He paused, ::word, Nagi?::  
  
::Wife.::  
  
::That's the one, thanks.:: "...wife hadn't decided in this manner, but I've been without her for over 800 years so I guess I would have been without her longer."  
  
Tenchi and Yosho paused at the entrance digesting this information.   
  
"You're wife?" Washu crossed her arms. "Ryo-ohki is supposed to be sterile and I promised the Jurains that I wouldn't help anyone. How can I do that if you two can make little cabbits together!"  
  
Ken-ohki sighed. "Well, extra infusions of MASU tend to change that and they determine our sex. And technically you didn't help us, Ryoko did."  
  
Washu spun and glared at her daughter. Ryoko looked up from her position leaning against the wall. She shrugged and took a sip of water that Sasami had given her. The silence lengthened as Washu switched her gaze between Ryoko, Ken-ohki and Nagi.  
  
Everyone jumped as the sudden scream of engines as Yagami entered its berth under the lake. Kiyone materialized on the dock near the door and slipped between Tenchi and Yosho who were still standing at the door. She was still dressed in her uniform and as she gazed around the room her face became more and more confused.  
  
"I think I missed something."   
  
--  
  
END CHAPTER!  
  
Poor Kiyone... more questions on top of the one's she already have. . . Next Time Interrogations Part Three... does it ever end!  
  
Questions and comments should be sent to one of the emails below! Check out my websites... and tell me what you think please.  
  
RingPrincess  
  
ring_princess@hotmail.com   
  
ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/ringprincess/index.html  
  
http://www.thetenchireviewer.net 


	7. Chapter Seven

A/N Tenchi Muyo! is owned by AIC and Pioneer and not by me. (ending dry and dull disclaimer)  
  
The ideas in this story are mine though and if you'd like to use or borrow them, contact me first at ring_princess@hotmail.com or ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
Thanks to JohnnyG for editting this overly long story and to Netserfer for reviewing at The Tenchi Reviewer.net!  
  
Tenchi Muyo Saga One: Fate of Empires  
  
Interrogations Part 3  
  
By RingPrincess  
  
Washu grabbed Ryoko's arm and dragged her towards the lab.  
  
"Washu," Kiyone began to say.  
  
"Not now, I need to talk with Ryoko," Washu snapped.   
  
Tenchi tried to stop Washu, but he was too far away and was hindered by Katsuhito's hand on his shoulder. Ayeka's mouth opened and closed a few times, but finally she just watched as Washu pulled Ryoko through the red door of her lab, the lock clicking behind them. No one tried to open the door, realizing that Washu had disconnected her lab from the house.  
  
Mihoshi snorted, shrugged and looked at Nagi. Nagi nodded at her, then stretched.   
  
Kiyone cleared her throat. "Well, I guess in Ryoko's absence I need to talk to you Nagi."  
  
"Talk being a euphemism for interrogate, right?" Nagi raised an eyebrow, her hands still in the air.   
  
Kiyone nodded and shrugged while Mihoshi chuckled. "Right."  
  
--  
  
Washu spun, red hair flying, to face Ryoko. Her green eyes were hard. "Explain."  
  
Ryoko looked past Washu. "Is he going to moderate?"  
  
Washu's jaw dropped.  
  
::I'll moderate, though you shouldn't be able to see me Ryoko.::  
  
"Great," Washu crossed her arms. "You said-"  
  
::I know what I said,:: Imp sounded peeved. ::And she shouldn't be able to see me.::  
  
"Doesn't matter, explain yourself, Lil Ryoko."   
  
"Don't call me Lil Ryoko." Ryoko crossed her arms, inadvertently pushing up her breasts. Imp snorted. "And I can't explain anything without knowing the question. We are no longer telepathic."  
  
"Ryo-ohki."  
  
"Ryo-ohki?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I can't, you created her. You explain this aspect of her being to me."  
  
"You made me break a promise."  
  
"I made you? I did no such thing. I don't even know what that promise, if you made one, was or who you gave it to or when. What I do know is that extra MASU infusions have been used for centuries if not millennia in cabbits. The fact that cabbits can regenerate means that they tend to lose their memories if they are destroyed and reabsorbing their prior crystals can restore their memories."  
  
"Cabbits, that is the entire problem with those sentences. There is only supposed to be one cabbit. I only created one for you."  
  
"Then you should have better researched what you were doing, Washu."  
  
Washu didn't look like she was going to answer. She turned her head and stared into the depths of the lab. "These capabilities you are describing were not placed there by me." She shook her head. "Someone else added them to Ryo-ohki."  
  
"Well, there are thousands of cabbits now, these capabilities work," Ryoko sneered. "Cabbits that are either copies or offspring of the original."  
  
"And how did these people get a hold of Ryo-ohki."  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence. Imp looked between the females. Ryoko was staring straight at Washu and there was no shame in her stance. "I gave her to them to study."  
  
"You gave her to them!" Washu's jaw dropped. "And who was them?"  
  
"Nekoia, I was in Nekoia."  
  
"And by holy hells, how did I not know this?"  
  
"Well, for some strange reason whenever I was in Nekoia, Washu, I was cut off from both you and Kagato." Ryoko's rolled her eyes. "Nekoia was the only time I got any peace."  
  
"Nekoia, Ryoko," Washu gasped. "Cabbits are powerful."  
  
"No kidding," Ryoko muttered.  
  
"An army, actually Navy, of cabbits in the wrong hands." Washu looked lost for a few moments.   
  
"Could take over the entire universe easily." Ryoko uncrossed her arms. "I know that. And it won' t happen."  
  
"And there is only one Empire in recent history that has tried taking over different sections of the universe; Nekoia!"  
  
"Recent being in the last ten thousand years of course." Ryoko nodded. "Recent as in the last five thousand years Nekoia has been quiet in galactic politics. I know that, because I've been there! And they aren't going to take over the universe."  
  
"Oh, you have intelligence that nobody else does now, Ryoko? According to history," Washu raised her voice.  
  
"Things change!" Ryoko shouted. "People and places change. You seem to forget that people are not things to be experimented upon. People are not just creations. We have wills of our own. Ryo-ohki's will was to reabsorb her crystals. I was not going to stop her even if I wasn't fighting to keep my head on my shoulders. That's hard to heal quickly and I'm sure May wouldn't want me to have a bloody stump where my head should be."   
  
Imp snorted. ::Not a pretty picture, Ryoko.::   
  
"You should have stopped Ryo-ohki."  
  
::What's done is done, Washu.::  
  
"How? Ordered her not to do it? Please, Ryo-ohki and I do not work like that."  
  
Washu sighed and turned away. "If you can't see reason when it comes to Ryo-ohki, will you see reason when it comes to your health."  
  
"Depends on your definition of reason."  
  
"Ryoko, what is going on with you?" Washu looked at Ryoko over her shoulder.  
  
"I can't tell you. I don't trust you, Washu." Ryoko uncrossed her arms and tapped her foot. "I have no reason to trust you."  
  
Imp frowned. ::If you won't tell her, will you tell me?::  
  
Ryoko glanced over at Imp. "She'll still hear."  
  
::Perhaps she really does need to know. I know what she has done to you, Ryoko.::  
  
"It was for your own good, Ryoko," Washu nodded.  
  
::Hush, Washu.:: Imp waved a hand at her. ::Ryoko, Washu was concerned about your health.::  
  
Ryoko began to pace. "She looks into my mind and she won't stop even when I ask. She plays with me." Ryoko spun on her heel, walking past Imp and Washu without looking at them. "My brain is changing. I know this because Mom made it so I could keep exact track of my health. Something that Kagato honed for his sheer enjoyment." Ryoko grimaced and growled, spinning on her heel again. "Mom didn't mean for that sense to be so fine tuned. The result is that I can track to a fraction of a second how long it will take my body to heal and vice versa, how long it will take my body to die. My brain itches and has itched since I woke up from collapsing and yes sometimes there is a stabbing pain, but it is a good pain." She took a deep breath, straining the seams of her battle suit. She stopped and turned to face Imp. "Am I making any sense?"  
  
::Complete sense,:: Imp reassured.  
  
Ryoko began walking again. "When Washu looks into my brain it is like picking at a scab. She disrupts the healing process so that my brain will take longer to heal. And before Tenchi put his strength behind my shields," Imp raised his eyebrows, "she beat my brain into a bloody mass. Whatever happened to make my brain start mending at such an accelerated pace she lengthened by at least four times." Ryoko wiped at the tears trickling from her eyes. "All because she was concerned," her voice was scornful. "And I was in so much pain I couldn't muster the concentration to fight her and explain clearly at the same time. So I ran."  
  
::Smart.::  
  
"I am the daughter of a genius." Ryoko wiped her eyes. "Mom taught me well."  
  
Imp chuckled. ::She did.::  
  
"I am glad to know something I said got through to you," Washu smiled.  
  
Ryoko spun, realizing again that Washu was there. She had been ignoring the small woman. She blinked. "Washu, you are not my mother."  
  
"Not this again," Washu sighed.   
  
Imp looked between them. The familial relationship was obvious, the shape of the nose, their cheekbones. The tones of the voice, their mannerisms were all the same.   
  
"You called me mom yesterday," Washu reminded Ryoko.  
  
"My mother was here yesterday, Washu. She said that she'd be here when I need her most."  
  
"That was me in my adult form." Washu aged to prove her point.  
  
"Mom didn't hide yesterday," Ryoko whispered, staring at the floor.   
  
Imp wanted to wrap his arms about Ryoko, her eyes were wide and skin was pale, amber eyes watering.   
  
Washu sat on her cushion and stared at Ryoko. Ryoko raised her eyes. "When I was sick," she murmured. "Mom was there, she held my hand. She talked to me about her work. Mom cried. Damn you!" Ryoko screamed. "How dare you claim to be my mother? You are nothing like my mother."   
  
--  
  
Nagi sat on the edge of the dock, the light breeze cooling the sweat on her skin. "Ask your questions, Kiyone. I'll tell all that I can."  
  
Kiyone sat down gingerly next to Nagi and fumbled with her notepad. "How did you hear about this job, Nagi?"  
  
"I have many sources," Nagi grinned, swishing her feet in the water. "And I heard about it through three of my most trusted."  
  
"Which you can't tell me their identities." Kiyone tucked a lock of teal hair behind her ear.   
  
"For their protection and my reputation. I can't tell you," Nagi nodded.   
  
"Why did you join the job?"  
  
"I didn't."  
  
"Why did you come with the group of bounty hunters then?"  
  
"I have been paid a large sum to protect Ryoko."  
  
"More than four billion Jurai?" Kiyone's voice was incredulous.   
  
Nagi chuckled. "No. I don't know what I'd do with four billion Jurai. That is like carrying a sign that says 'Mug me'"   
  
"Can we confirm this other counter bounty?"  
  
"Not really. It was a private matter. The Guild wasn't involved."  
  
"You are not a Guild member though. The Guild wouldn't have been involved anyways."  
  
"Yes and no. I pay Guild dues from time to time. They are more like bribes however, sometimes I'll get a good lead."  
  
"Like about who was doing the Ryoko job?"  
  
"Sometimes."  
  
"Why didn't you come before the larger group?"  
  
"Well," Nagi leaned back and looked at the sky. "I didn't have time, and if I was with the gathered group I'd know who was the enemy and it would be easier to establish that I was a friend."  
  
"Who was the enemy?"  
  
"Everyone but Duo and his crew, and me of course."  
  
"Why not them, Duo was in charge of the mission?"  
  
"Duo wanted to get to Mihoshi."  
  
Kiyone almost dropped her stylus. "You knew?"  
  
"I've met a few Balance Keepers. Mihoshi and Duo's circumstances aren't usual, then again, these aren't usual times."  
  
"Define usual?"  
  
"Good point."  
  
"I meant define the usual relationship of a Balance Keeper."  
  
"Oh, well when a male and female Balance Keeper meet sometimes they 'fall in love' or I believe the technical term is lifebond. A lifebond intimately connects them to their partner, so much so that they become almost a single unit. If the partners are separated by long distances without the proper medication, then you get something like what happened to Mihoshi. They easily lose track of themselves, though they retain all their abilities, they can't express them. It isn't as bad if they are surrounded by close friends."  
  
"Mihoshi has never had really close friends," Kiyone murmured.  
  
"Or have the proper medications. Those medications are only available through their home planet and I think that Mihoshi and Duo didn't want their people to know that they are lifebonded. Duo is in exile." Nagi shrugged. "So, a usual relationship would be that Duo would have become Mihoshi's partner in the GP or Mihoshi would have joined him in his life of crime." Nagi snorted.   
  
"How do you know all this?"  
  
"Like I said, I know a few Balance Keepers." Nagi chuckled. "I know a lot of people."  
  
"So, Duo wasn't a threat because of his relationship with Mihoshi."   
  
"Correct, Cerulea wasn't a threat as long as she was under Duo's orders. Parbuteo's take the chain of command very seriously. So she wouldn't do anything as long as Duo still lived, then she would have followed Porfirio's orders and the Leopold's. This tendency is one of their greatest strengths and weaknesses."   
  
"So, since Cerulea was so low on the pecking order," Kiyone noted, "you weren't worried."   
  
Nagi laughed. "One way to say it. Leopold wasn't a threat because he's Leopold. And Leopold doesn't like to dirty his hands. Duo was way to close to Ryoko and others that he wasn't supposed to kill to use the ship's cannons."   
  
"So that is a personality thing," Kiyone groaned.   
  
"You've noticed." Nagi dropped her voice to a monotone. "It isn't a rare Qualeon trait either." She shuddered. "Porfirio isn't a threat," Nagi paused and watched Kiyone carefully, legs stopping. "Because of you, Kiyone."  
  
"I know." Kiyone sighed, her cheeks slightly pink.  
  
Nagi grinned. "No matter how much you two will want to kill each other, you can't." Nagi shook her head.   
  
"Because, Nagi, ultimately we are striving for the same thing, Porfirio and I. I'm just ranked higher."  
  
Nagi chuckled and Kiyone blinked then began to laugh with her. "That sounds so pretentious," Kiyone gasped, bending over, holding her stomach.   
  
Nagi nodded and lay down on the rough boards. "Definitely." Kiyone looked down and over at her, their eyes met and they broke out laughing again. The waves amplified their laughter and rippled merrily as a few birds soared between the clouds.  
  
--  
  
"My mother was actively involved in my life." Ryoko continued quietly. "We went on trips, we talked about everything: school, boys, friends. Our mind link was for emergencies or else Mom said I would have never learned to talk at all. Kagato and others may have helped create me but Mom was my parent. Kagato's attack on us was completely unexpected. We were supposed to visit Nekoia the next day. Mom had finally been approved for the research visa. We were so excited, she wanted to visit the home of the MASU again and it was no longer in Jurain space."   
  
"I remember," Washu whispered. "We were even going to take Souja."   
  
"We were so happy and then Kagato," Ryoko shook her head. "When he attacked, Mom told me she loved me and would be there for me and then left."  
  
"I was captured, but I'm back Ryoko. I love you," Washu hid her head behind her hands. "I couldn't win. Somehow he knew everything I would do and…"  
  
Imp smiled, things were beginning to work out.   
  
"… And he forced me into child form, you know that I only used that for working with colleagues, they expected it. Then Kagato placed me in that crystal." She sobbed. "The longer I was in there the less emotional I became, the more time I had to think of what went wrong and I thought that my emotions were the cause of it all."  
  
Imp caught Ryoko's eye and nodded at Washu, trying to send her a silent message. Ryoko's brow furrowed and Imp sighed. ::Hug her,:: he 'whispered.'  
  
Ryoko blinked. And walked over next to Washu.  
  
"And when Mihoshi freed me, I didn't know what to say or do and you were so different. And I was a child, without the strength to immediately change into adult form."  
  
Ryoko placed her arms about Washu, her shoulders hunched and back stiff. It was awkward, but it was human contact. Something Washu hadn't had in a long time, and something Ryoko needed as well. Soon Ryoko relaxed, her shoulders dropped and they began to cry together. Cry for time lost and time regained.   
  
--  
  
Kiyone took a deep breath and let it out slowly, Nagi gradually sobering beside her.   
  
"One last question, Nagi." Kiyone looked over at her. "What does Nekoia mean to you?"  
  
"Nekoia," Nagi drew out. She paused and looked over at Kiyone. "Nekoia, the warrior children of the great goddess, the crystal empire… Nekoia means many things to me, but ultimately Nekoia is home."  
  
"Thank you, Captain," Kiyone shut her notepad and she pushed herself back and up.   
  
Nagi smiled. "Nekoia is also the empire that people don't talk about outside its borders, or admit it exists. They don't want the wrath of the cat-people to descend upon them. Be careful Detective, who you ask about Nekoia."   
  
Kiyone frowned, "I know."   
  
"I need to bathe, care to join me Kiyone?"  
  
Kiyone shook her head. "Afraid I can't. Though it'd be nice. I really do need to talk to Ryoko."  
  
"It isn't her fault."  
  
"Jurai thinks it is." Kiyone paused. "Off the record of course, Jurai thinks that Kagato had Ryoko steal something inside Nekoia. And now, Nekoia has finally decided to get it back."  
  
"By killing her? The bounty was dead or alive."  
  
"I thought there was something wrong with the logic myself," Kiyone shrugged.   
  
"Bureaucrats are never logical." Nagi looked chagrined.   
  
They broke out laughing again.   
  
--  
  
Ryoko looked up at the knock on the door. She stepped slowly away from Washu. Washu sniffed and wiped her eyes with her fingers. Belatedly remembering to get a handkerchief from sub space. She tried to make herself look more presentable.   
  
"Come in," she called, voice thick and scratchy.  
  
Kiyone opened the door and peeked in. "I'm sorry Washu. But I really need to speak with Ryoko."  
  
Ryoko cleared her throat, "Of course, Kiyone." She looked back at Washu. "I'll be back mom, and we can talk more."   
  
Washu nodded. "We will."  
  
Ryoko floated to the door, Kiyone's head disappearing from behind it. Ryoko shut the door behind her.   
  
Imp sighed. ::I'm reminded of one of my favorite phrases. All's well that ends well.::  
  
Washu glanced at him. ::Thank you, from both of us.::  
  
He grinned. ::I enjoyed it.::  
  
::You would,:: Washu felt maternal and wanted to ruffle his black hair.   
  
Imp narrowed his eyes like he could read her thoughts and then he shrugged, lips twitching. ::I also wanted to help.::   
  
::You seem to know me very well, but I don't remember you from anywhere. Especially since you are an apparition.::  
  
Imp stood up, feet finally touching the floor. His face straightened along with his posture and he walked over to her, looking into her eyes. ::I know you better than I know myself, Washu.:: As he spoke he slowly aged to a young man, golden eyes burned her with suppressed desire. His fingers reached out to caress her face but just went through her. His face fell in regret, hand returning to his side. He then bowed and faded from view.  
  
--  
  
Tenchi saw Ryoko and Kiyone on the way to the door. He cleared his throat, "Ryoko."  
  
Ryoko's eyes widened and she stopped, looking over at him in the middle of the living room. "Yes, Tenchi."  
  
"I'd also like to know what is going on." His voice was heavy, his eyes sad.   
  
"We all would." Ayeka nodded.  
  
Ryoko shook her head.   
  
"We want to help," Tenchi clenched his fist. "And May, May needs you."  
  
Ryoko bit her bottom lip and looked at the floor, her gaze constantly flicking between Tenchi and the floorboards as she considered. Out of the corner of her eye as she glanced at Tenchi again she saw Ken-ohki glaring at her and nodding.   
  
::He wants you to take Tenchi's help.:: Ryo-ohki translated sleepily, mind voice muffled.  
  
::Feeling-::  
  
::Like shit, thanks.::  
  
Ryoko's teeth released her lip and she looked Tenchi full in the face. "All right Tenchi, but I can't here." She raised an eyebrow at the Princess. "And Princess, you are a bit too official for me to be able to tell you."  
  
Ayeka's eyes widened. "I hadn't-"  
  
"You hadn't thought of it. I know," Ryoko chuckled.   
  
Ayeka raised her nose and crossed her arms. "Fine, turn this to your advantage. You didn't have to come up with something this elaborate just to get a date with Tenchi." Ayeka smiled and winked at Ryoko so she would know it was a joke.  
  
Inexplicably Ryoko flushed and Tenchi rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, there is a nice sushi bar in town that we could go to." Ryoko stammered.   
  
Tenchi froze. "And there?"  
  
"I'll tell you all I can, Tenchi," Ryoko murmured.   
  
::Everything,:: Ryo-ohki said sharply.  
  
"Everything!" Ryoko blurted, and then flushed bright red. She gave a surreptitious glare at the cabbit woman.   
  
Tenchi smiled at her.   
  
Kiyone sighed from the doorway, she strode back and linked her arm through Ryoko's dragging her along behind her. "Come on, we need to chat, before you make more of a fool of yourself."  
  
Kiyone led Ryoko to the quietest spot she knew, and they didn't talk much on the way. Ryoko seemed preoccupied with what had been happening at the house and not paying attention to their surroundings. Kiyone stopped at the clearing of the cave. There the sun was bright and the grass was soft. She hoped whatever memories Ryoko had of this place would help her feel comfortable and more willing to talk.   
  
She sat down, crossing her legs. So the cave was not the most professional place to hold an interrogation. Ryoko didn't deserve what would be called professional though. "Ryoko," Kiyone began.  
  
Ryoko looked at her. "Huh?"   
  
"Ryoko, I need you to understand a few things. You aren't under arrest, nor are you under any suspicion for a crime. It is your right not to answer a question that makes you feel uncomfortable or indeed you don't have to answer any questions without a lawyer present."  
  
Ryoko nodded. "Jurai has their own opinions about all this though."  
  
"Yes," Kiyone paused. "Is that why you don't wish to speak to Ayeka about it."  
  
Ryoko nodded again.  
  
Kiyone looked thoughtful for a moment. "However, the Galaxy Police are aware that the statute of limitations is up, and as such your record has been deleted and you are a private citizen."  
  
"With the same rights as any other citizen?" Ryoko's face was incredulous.  
  
"Correct."  
  
Ryoko looked away, her eyes drawn to the dark cave entrance. "Then ask your questions, Kiyone."  
  
Kiyone looked down, opening her folder and referencing some notes inside. "It is understood that this has not been the first attack against you since your record was deleted. Could you please tell me of these other attacks?"  
  
Ryoko's eyes closed and her face pinched. "There have been four attacks against me or using me. The first was when the Princess captured Tenchi and I after I was awakened. She interrogated me on where Yosho was, which I didn't know. We managed to escape and brought Ayeka down to Earth with us." Ryoko took a deep breath. "It was two months later, the Princess and I were getting along more and things were somewhat smooth between us when Kagato found me. The good Dr. Kagato," Ryoko growled. Kiyone knew better than to interrupt. "Kagato was an assistant to my mother and had been using me as a front to gain the ultimate power of Jurai. He had been searching for a way to it for years. He had me collect artifacts, destroy planets and kill people. This often included taking extensive trips to gain any and all information that may have been useful to him. If I refused he would control me. Soon I learned that control was worse than refusing and I stopped refusing most of the time."  
  
Kiyone's voice was soft. "Please define control."  
  
Ryoko's eyes opened and she stared at Kiyone. Her voice was somewhat even, "Control was when Kagato would take over my actions and use my body as an extension of his own. Very rarely did I ever see myself when I was under control, but it is said that my eyes looked like they were washed in green." She paused. "I saw this one day, when he happened to have me look up from a kill straight into a mirror. That was one of the very few times I broke his will over me. I couldn't stand to see those eyes in my face. It was too difficult to break his will to do it often. He would reinforce his orders afterwards. Yet, at times I would do it."  
  
"Why didn't you leave once you broke his hold over you?"  
  
"I tried, once." Her voice dropped. "The consequences were terrible. I always returned after a short length of time after that."  
  
"You couldn't find protection?" Kiyone's gaze narrowed.   
  
"There was no protection from myself," Ryoko grimaced. Kiyone waited for her to go on, but Ryoko was lost in a memory.   
  
"Where did Kagato often lose control over you?"  
  
"Often in temples and always in the Nekoian Empire."  
  
"So, you have spent time in the Nekoian Empire?" Kiyone asked casually.  
  
Ryoko wasn't fooled and smirked. "I have spent some time there, yes." She looked away and up, earring swaying.  
  
Kiyone wanted to grind her teeth in frustration, but knew better and dropped Nekoia as if it didn't matter. "You said you've been attacked four times, so far you've only cited two. Tell me about the others."  
  
Ryoko looked back at her and her eyes sparkled. They both knew the rules of the game and weren't giving an inch. "The third time was with Dr. Clay, a rival of my mother's in the Academy days. He copied me with his creation Zero and when she was found out used me as bait for the rest of the house."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I was never told." Ryoko shrugged. "He kept me hostage, though he was the gloating type. He gloated more towards Washu than me. I was just a tool." Her voice dropped.   
  
Kiyone raised an eyebrow. "After Clay?"  
  
"The Bounty Hunters." Ryoko shrugged.   
  
"Yes, the Bounty Hunters." Kiyone paused, "What about Yuzuha and Mayuka?"  
  
"I fought against Yuzuha and against May." Ryoko's lips twitched in what looked to be a smile. "Yet, Yuzuha didn't use me as a tool, that was May's duty. Something her and I have in common. And Yuzuha's attack was aimed at Tenchi and Yosho, not at me."   
  
Kiyone thought for a moment. "I can see what you mean. All right then, the next attack was by these Bounty Hunters. Meaning someone placed a price on your head. Are you aware of an enemy with enough power and money to hire this many hunters?"  
  
Ryoko snorted. "Since my release I have been off this planet three times, twice to local space and once to another dimension. I haven't traveled the universe. I don't have contacts anymore since it was rather difficult to keep in touch."  
  
"A simple no would have been easier." Kiyone rolled her eyes.  
  
"Okay then, no."  
  
Kiyone made a show of looking over her notes. "How about Nekoia?"  
  
"I am sure I have enemies all over the universe. It is hard to be the slave of an eternally wanted criminal and not make enemies."  
  
"Could you name any?"  
  
Ryoko shook her head. "I'm afraid not."  
  
"All right," Kiyone glanced quickly at her next line of questions in her notebook. "From what I recall of the fight, Ryoko, you weren't surprised when Nagi changed sides. Why not?"  
  
"She is Nekoian."  
  
"Did you know her from your visits?"  
  
"No. Those trips were a long time ago." Ryoko shrugged.  
  
"Then how could you know she was trustworthy?"   
  
"Instinct, I knew Zero was an enemy that way as well. I just knew."  
  
"Why didn't you trust the rest of the group?" Kiyone frowned.   
  
Ryoko blinked and then grinned. "Because they were already primed for battle. Nagi didn't raise her battle energy until she joined our side."   
  
Kiyone swallowed hard. "You can see energy." Inwardly she was cursing, her superiors wouldn't like this. There was nothing at all scientific about instincts or seeing energy. There were no hard facts that Ryoko could do what she did.  
  
"Yeah, certain forms of energy."   
  
"Such as?"  
  
"Battle energy, life energy," Ryoko shrugged.   
  
"What about Duo, what did his energy and your instinct say about him?" Kiyone probed.   
  
Ryoko hooded her eyes and thought for a moment. "He shouted caution. I knew Duo wanted to talk and see if I would come peaceably. His energy readings however showed him three quarters of the way to peak. There were too many other hunters at full for him to remain completely in control of the situation though." Ryoko leaned back. "I suppose the other hunters could have just been being cautious, considering my terrible reputation and all."  
  
Kiyone refrained from snorting. "Meaning, I have to take your word that you can do all these things."  
  
"Pretty much."  
  
"One last question," Kiyone sighed. "When you heard that there was a bounty on your head, what was your first thought?"  
  
Ryoko began to laugh. "Honestly," she gasped. "My first thought was, 'What in hell? How do they keep finding me? Isn't Earth a protected zone?'"  
  
Kiyone had to chuckle and she flipped the notebook shut. "Thank you, Ryoko."  
  
"No problem," Ryoko winked. "Just doing my civic duty."  
  
Kiyone stood and stretched. "It is always a good thing to cooperate with the police."   
  
"Haven't had many chances to do it actually." Ryoko didn't move and looked up at Kiyone. "You get going, it's quiet up here and well…"  
  
"Don't be late for dinner. I'm done with questions for today."  
  
"Late for dinner? Sasami would never cook for me again if I did that." Ryoko smiled, then sobered. "If she hasn't stopped staring at Ryo-ohki."  
  
"Wait a minute, you and Tenchi are going out for dinner tonight remember. Sushi, and it was all your idea." Kiyone teased.  
  
Ryoko flushed.   
  
Kiyone bit her lip and changed the subject. "Will Ryo-ohki still play with Sasami? Now that she is an adult that is."  
  
"Did it stop Ken-ohki?" Ryoko's face returned to it's normal hue and she laughed. "All cabbits I've ever met are just kids at heart."  
  
"That's good to hear." Kiyone backed up. "Well, better get going." She turned and jogged past the trees.   
  
Ryoko sat a few moments more, drawing her knees up to her chin. She waited until she knew Kiyone was out of hearing range. "What do you want?" she asked the seemingly empty clearing.   
  
--  
  
END CHAPTER!  
  
Next time... questions leads to conversations and conversations leads to decisions...  
  
Questions and comments should be sent to one of the emails below! Check out my websites... and tell me what you think please.  
  
RingPrincess  
  
ring_princess@hotmail.com   
  
ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
http://www.thetenchireviewer.net/rp  
  
http://www.thetenchireviewer.net 


	8. Chapter Eight

A/N Tenchi Muyo! is owned by AIC and Pioneer and not by me. (ending dry and dull disclaimer)  
  
The ideas in this story are mine though and if you'd like to use or borrow them, contact me first at ring_princess@hotmail.com or ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
Thanks to JohnnyG for editting this overly long story and to Netserfer for reviewing at The Tenchi Reviewer.net!  
  
Tenchi Muyo Saga One: Fate of Empires  
  
Conversations  
  
By RingPrincess  
  
Nagi walked from the shadows of the trees, no longer needing to hide. Ryoko knew that she didn't even bother with hiding in shadows most of the time as she could bend the light of the world around her to be effectively invisible. Nagi stopped a few feet from Ryoko. "I don't want anything. You know who wants you Ryoko."  
  
"I can't tell the GP that," Ryoko hissed. "We agreed."  
  
"Not her, them." Nagi held a violet and green crystal up significantly, it was humming pleasantly.   
  
Ryoko's eyes widened. "Isn't this rather soon?" Her gaze didn't leave the slightly vibrating crystal.   
  
Nagi shrugged. "I received my orders in the bath."  
  
"Be a free spirit, ignore them!"  
  
"Oh for love of the great goddess, I can't." Nagi paused. "There are times I wish I could. Now is one of them."  
  
"I'm not ready." Ryoko swallowed hard. "As much as I hate to say it."  
  
"No. You are not." Nagi sighed. "However, arguing with them is pointless. Neither Makoto or Syoko want to hear sense about now."  
  
"They didn't like your methods," Ryoko snickered.  
  
"They never like my methods." Nagi rolled her eyes and unwrapped her fingers from the crystal so that it stood on its point in the middle of her palm. She gradually took her hand from underneath it and let it float without any support. The crystal bobbed for a few moments and then thin rays of light burst from it and created a three dimensional image around it.   
  
"At last, we finally talk." Syoko smiled at Ryoko.   
  
Ryoko smiled tightly back and raised an eyebrow. "Well, it has been over a thousand years. You both look well."  
  
Makoto preened a moment and Syoko rolled her eyes expressively. "About as well as yourself," Syoko chuckled. "The Empress is most displeased." She ran her fingers through her spiky peach hair.  
  
"The Empress would be," Ryoko's voice was not enthusiastic. "Syoko, cut the shit, what do you want?"   
  
Makoto hummed and Ryoko switched her gaze to the green haired priestess. She smiled. "We want you to come back to Nekoia with Nagi."  
  
Ryoko's gaze flickered to Nagi's location but the other woman had pulled a disappearing act. "So supportive," she muttered. "No," she raised her voice.   
  
Makoto's brown eyes narrowed. "Why not?"  
  
"I am not a pawn for one of your games, Makoto," Ryoko said tiredly. "I am not a pawn for anyone's games."  
  
"At least you remember us," Makoto sneered.  
  
Ryoko stiffened and glared at the Priestess. "Damn you, that is NOT my fault." Then she relaxed and snorted.   
  
Syoko hummed this time and both Makoto and Ryoko looked back to her. "The conditions are wonderful for your return."  
  
"Conditions?" Ryoko asked, they better not mean what she thought they did.  
  
Makoto nodded. "You have a child."  
  
They did, Ryoko's heart beat faster in anger. "Do not bring May into this." Ryoko's voice turned cold.   
  
"She is a factor in your decision though." Makoto smiled without humor.  
  
"She is not my child only," Ryoko snapped.   
  
"Ah yes, then there is this boy, another wonderful reason for you to return." Syoko sighed.  
  
"She is Tenchi's child and family to the rest of the house. I won't do this to them."  
  
Makoto opened her mouth to say something, but Syoko kicked her. Makoto's mouth snapped shut and she glared at Syoko.  
  
"Ryoko," Syoko sighed. "Do you really think you could stay there after what has happened?"  
  
"Yes," Ryoko raised her chin.  
  
"We are running out of time." Makoto's voice was harsh. "The day comes nearer and near where the galaxy shall experience a great woe and someone must be there to lead the universe to a new balance, a better balance."  
  
"We have a common foe, Ryoko." Syoko continued. "But we must come together to defeat it."  
  
Ryoko placed her hands over her ears and buried her head in her knees. "Stop. I am not the one you think I am."  
  
"You can feel it," Syoko murmured. "Just as I felt it that first day you came to the temple garden. The day I knew that the time we had foreseen had come. The fate of empires was resting on your shoulders, weighing heavily in your mind. It still is."  
  
"No!" Ryoko screamed. "I am not a game piece!"  
  
"You have been part of a game that has been going on for thousands of years. That game is ending," Makoto growled.  
  
"They'll die," Syoko whispered. "All those that you love are also in this game and they will die if you do not come."  
  
Numbness spread through Ryoko's limbs. "You lie," she said, looking up. Tears pooled in her amber eyes.  
  
"Unless you act. My words will be truth." Syoko's voice cracked like a whip. "Rieshu has foreseen it."  
  
"And if I act?" Ryoko's hands fell to her sides.  
  
Syoko paused, the whites of her eyes turned the same shade as her irises, a brilliant violet. "There is a chance," her voice deepened, becoming richer.  
  
"A chance?" Ryoko lit her energy sword. "You can do better than that."  
  
"There are too many variables for Rieshu to see clearly," Syoko said calmly, the brilliance in her eyes fading. "No matter what happens, no matter what you choose, they could die. But only if you act do they have any chance at all. Even if you warn them."  
  
Ryoko trembled and let loose a piercing scream. She threw her sword in a wide arc. It cut the images of Syoko and Makoto in half and there was a spray of lighting as it cut through the crystal. The images of the priestesses disappeared as the crystal fell to the ground and the sword dissipated.  
  
Nagi reappeared and stared at Ryoko who had buried her head back into her knees.   
  
"I'm sorry, Ryoko."  
  
"You want this as much as they do." Ryoko's voice was bitter.  
  
"Yes," Nagi paused. "But I can still feel sorry for you."  
  
"I have no need for pity." Ryoko stood up.  
  
Nagi picked up the broken crystal, hiding the pieces. "No, you never have." Nagi's voice was tinged with sorrow. "We do not pity you, we admire you."   
  
Ryoko stared at Nagi. "Enough to die for me, Nagi?"  
  
"I'd die for my empress out of duty, I'd die for you out of love." Nagi bowed her head, her features hidden by the hood of her cape.  
  
Ryoko took a deep breath. "I can understand that, Nagi."  
  
Nagi smiled and looked at Ryoko from the top of her eyes. "I know."  
  
Ryoko turned away and walked down the path towards the house and Nagi melted back into the shadows, paralleling Ryoko back unseen and silent.  
  
--  
  
Syoko let out the breath she had been holding for some time. "That went well."  
  
Makoto's eyes narrowed. "Little was accomplished."  
  
"She'll come," Syoko crossed her arms.   
  
Makoto grunted.   
  
Rieshu glided into the room. "Then we must proceed as planned." Her voice was soft. "Remembering that we are not the only ones with plans."  
  
"The Empress plans," Makoto nodded.  
  
"And the foe." Syoko sighed. 'Makoto can be so short sighted at times.' "We were committed to this course of action with or without Ryoko," she observed.  
  
Rieshu smiled. "Now you see why directing the events to come is so difficult."  
  
"The variables, the possible endings." Makoto studied her fingernails. "And the responsibility of directing the fate of our empire."  
  
"Don't be so narrow-minded," Syoko snapped, turning her head to glare at Makoto. "All the empires are linked. What affects one of us, affects us all and so it has been since creation."  
  
Rieshu nodded. "The Great Goddess created our people for such a time as this. Her forethought is misunderstood and despised."  
  
Makoto cocked her head and appeared to be thinking on the idea.  
  
Syoko brightened. "Ryoko is coming. I say this is a special occasion and deserves a toast." She glided to a small table and poured three glasses of blue liquid. Makoto and Rieshu joined her.   
  
"To Ryoko." Syoko raised her glass.  
  
The other two raised their glasses. "And the fate of empires." Rieshu added.  
  
--  
  
Lee snuck another glance at the couple. He had noticed them as soon as they came in to the restaurant, the glass door swinging shut behind them. There was nothing overtly different about them from other customers, except perhaps for the woman's striking features. Yet, the two demanded that a person take notice of them.   
  
They were young, not that it was a bad thing. They weren't children but yet they weren't completely adults either. He figured they were in their late teens, high school sweethearts out on a date. Lee couldn't prove that of course, it was an impression considering the way the girl looked at the boy. Her amber eyes constantly returned to him and then went away as if she didn't want to be caught.   
  
The boy noticed this of course and would smile every time he caught her. Yes, he was just a boy. Lee inwardly nodded. He wasn't a man, yet. The boy reminded Lee of a shrine apprentice he used to know, the quiet type, reserved and with a veneer of confidence. Some would call him the serious type. Max, his old friend, had known how to fight, among other things, but he hadn't wanted to use his fighting proficiency to solve every problem. Something that had raised Max in Lee's estimation of how the world worked. He had a feeling that this boy was the same way. If he fought, he fought as a last resort.   
  
"I guess you could say that this all started with a prophecy at the beginning of creation, a prophecy that remains unfulfilled," the girl began. Her voice was bright and cheerful, with just an edge of sultry. "Then there came a universal war sometime later when the different empires fought for their deities and in the end all the goddesses and gods were restrained to this dimension, or the small dimensions they had created within this dimension." She shook her head. "I don't proclaim to understand it."   
  
The boy chuckled. "It's religion and politics intertwined."  
  
"Something like that," the girl sighed.  
  
Lee tuned their voices out and handed them their first order of sushi. The girl was harder to create a good first impression about. And working the sushi bar gave Lee lots of time to study people and figure out from the way they looked and the way they moved what they were all about. The bright cyan color of her hair wasn't as shocking as it could have been, partying being a more accepted practice now than it was a few years ago, so finding hair that color wasn't that hard. The style would put a few people off though, hard and spiky and looking like it took a whole container of gel to keep in place. She, like the boy, was alert, her eyes darting all over the room but always coming back to him. Lee thought that she might have some fighting ability as well, of the more practical nature than the shrine boy. Though he didn't understand why she was with shrine boy in the first place. Girls who were partiers generally didn't hang out with shrine apprentices unless they were a) really good in bed or b) had a line on some powerful drugs. Lee shrugged and kept their orders filled. That took some time and he missed quite a bit of conversation, which sounded very outlandish when he could hear anyways.   
  
"These two women want you to come back to fulfill this prophecy and," the boy petered off.   
  
"And essentially save the universe or something like that," she sighed. She frowned twisting a napkin in one hand, while the other looked like it was about to break her chopsticks.   
  
"Ryoko." The boy looked like he wanted to touch her hand or do something to make her feel better and he didn't quite dare to do so.  
  
"Yet, Tenchi, first there are some conditions to be met," Ryoko grimaced.   
  
Lee reevaluated the couple as he took meat out from under the glass. Yes, they were a couple but not the type of couple he had first thought they were. They weren't dating romantically. He wished he could see more of how they were sitting. They were facing each other, but only slightly. They didn't lean together when they spoke, but faced each other upright. Lee frowned.   
  
Ryoko grimaced and looked down at her plate. "Even though I do not have a child physically, they consider May to be a child of my heart." Tears leaked from her eyes.   
  
Tenchi's eyes widened. "So you need May."  
  
Ryoko nodded, "yet May also needs you. She is your daughter first, not mine." She smiled thinly. "I'll go alone if I must."  
  
Lee was confused. They weren't lovers but they were talking like they had a child together. Perhaps they were ex lovers.   
  
"Why are you so determined to go?"  
  
Ryoko's eyes closed and she took a deep ragged breath and let it out in a deep sigh. "Why did you save me from Kagato? Why did you come after me with Dr. Clay? Why did we enter the dark dimension to save Sasami?"  
  
Tenchi's face stilled and he didn't reply. Ryoko nodded, her eyes on his face. Lee sensed that she knew he understood what she meant.   
  
They sat in silence for a few moments, picking at their food. Lee inwardly sighed, the rice wasn't sticking together well enough, and it kept falling apart as they tried to eat. Not that it mattered to them. They weren't here for the food.   
  
"All I wanted to do was tell the to go to hell," Ryoko said quietly. "But then I'd be damning you, May and everyone else as well. I'd even be damning myself."  
  
"If this had happened before," Tenchi paused and pointed to her head and she grinned. "You would have told them that and ignored the consequences."  
  
Ryoko flushed. "Yes, well."  
  
Tenchi chuckled. "Is this called growing up?"  
  
Lee smiled down at the sushi he was preparing. It was nice for him to hear them laughing after all the serious tones they had been using. Idly he created a ginger rosette, placing it near the sushi and threw a glob of light green wasabi onto the plate. He figured they were close to done and tallied up their bill.  
  
Ryoko's eyes narrowed and her nose pinched. "I am not the only one going through the process."  
  
Tenchi chuckled. "Granted." He smiled softly. "It's nice to be able to tease you for a change."   
  
"I'm sure it won't happen often." Ryoko grinned and Lee handed them their bill with their fortune cookies.  
  
Ryoko reached for the cookies first and Lee heard the crinkle of plastic as she tore it open.  
  
"Put 'in bed' at the end," Tenchi muttered as he counted bills.  
  
"You've got that game here as well?" Her eyes went to Tenchi's face and she glanced back at the slip of paper in her hand. She nibbled on the orange flavored cookie.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Must be a universal concept." Ryoko paused, and returned to reading her fortune. She began to snigger.  
  
Tenchi placed the check back on the bar. "Keep the change."  
  
"Read yours," Ryoko gestured, the slip of paper flapping.  
  
Tenchi broke his cookie, absentmindedly eating half while reading his fortune. He almost choked. Ryoko snatched it from him.  
  
"If you can't decide up or down," she read. "Try moving across." She grinned. "I think yours is better than mine." She changed slips of paper. Lee held down laughter at Tenchi's red face. "Ideas you may believe are absurd ultimately lead to success!"  
  
She dropped them to the bar and shrugged. Tenchi stood up after her and they left the restaurant. Tenchi getting the door, but there was a good six inches between their bodies. Lee shook his head as they walked down the street to the bus station. He still wasn't sure what to think and so he eventually put the couple out of his mind and went back to work.  
  
--  
  
*A Few Days Later*  
  
Tsunami paused. A slow smile spread across her face. Everything was in place, and all she had to do was push. Then everything would finally come together. She took a deep breath. Her pink eyes alight with happiness and satisfaction. They were like rays of light knitting into a cohesive whole. Sometimes patience and trial 'n' error did pay off. She cocked her head, still grinning.  
  
It had only taken 40,000 years after all. And soon everything would be all right. Soon her and Sasami would be one and her avatar would at last be able to see what good Tsunami had wrought while waiting for their assimilation.   
  
Dafune materialized. Her medium skin tone and elf shaped ears were set off by mid back length jet-black curls and big sapphire eyes. Gold decorated her throat and wrists, and she wore a skintight suit of navy. She watched the older goddess for a few moments, not able to understand her elder sisters happiness. "The balance is shifting Tsunami. Soon not even our combined wills will keep it stable."   
  
"Your Keepers of the Balance getting antsy, Dafune?"   
  
"Even the assassins," Dafune confirmed.   
  
"Everything will be fine." Tsunami looked over her shoulder at the Dafune.   
  
"With you leading us, it will be fine in the end," Dafune murmured, her eyes closing.   
  
"Then don't look so gloomy."  
  
Dafune sighed and opened her eyes. "I find it hard to be neutral these days, Tsunami."  
  
"On this there can be no neutrality, it is too important. You are either on one side or the other."  
  
Dafune nodded. "Yes, since Kami-"  
  
"Kami has abandoned us."  
  
Dafune blinked back tears. She could still feel the pain as she had been thrown out of Heaven, even if it had only been 20,000 years ago. "Yes, he has," she whispered, choking back tears.  
  
Tsunami nodded in satisfaction. "Keep the balance stable for now, Dafune. Remember our goals."  
  
"I shall, Tsunami." Dafune straightened, dashing tears from her eyes. "The balance will be kept."  
  
--  
  
He sat at the meeting place, he had been there for some time, coming straight after work and watching the shadows turn and lengthen in a blue veil until they had taken over the world. The meadow grass was cool and wet with dew when she approached him. The moon through the leaves cast shadows over her features. She paused just out of his reach.  
  
He couldn't help but smile, teeth flashing. He knew she had stopped for several reasons and he couldn't help but admire the figure she was in the moonlight. Yet she was too far away and he held out a hand to her. It was an invitation she knew and she grasped it eagerly with a fine boned hand. He pulled her closer and then down to sit next to him. Once there he kept her hand in his and she made no struggle to remove it.   
  
The silence between them was freeing. There was no need to talk. Anything that had to be said could be left for daylight. The breeze stirred the grass stems and chilled them. They drew closer and watched the patterns the movement created on the ground. Hypnotized by the random stirrings.   
  
She sighed and placed her head on his shoulder and he squeezed her hand. He understood; she was there for the same reason he was here. The branches hit each other with dull clacking sounds. She interlaced her fingers with his and he leaned his head over hers. The moonlight glinted off his eyes. She stared intently at their laced fingers. She enjoyed the contrasts and what they meant. The different skin tones, the shape and feel of their hands. His hands were large, dark, dry and rough from a lifetime of working in the sun, comfortably strong. She ran her thumb lightly over his.  
  
He looked down at the slight pressure and marveled for all the power she possessed. She could be so gentle, so controlled and that her hands were still delicate, smooth and soft. They were strong hands despite all appearances though.   
  
A noise caught his attention next and he looked up. His head left hers. A roiling wind whipped up, stirring dead leaves and broken twigs. It tore young leaves off the trees. She looked up as well as a large ship made of sharp black crystal attached to a large dome rose as quietly as possible above the tree line into the air.  
  
He stood, drawing her up with him. She didn't protest, her eyes still on the ship as it hovered just above the highest branches. He began walking towards it and she followed, fingers still touching. Neither looked back and in under ten steps they disappeared.  
  
The black ship reoriented slightly and came out of hover, speeding upwards. Soon followed by a white ship of similar nature. If there had been anyone in the clearing watching, the ships would have been lost to sight quickly even now they were only motes of light in the sky. The brightness of the moon swallowed those as well.   
  
The wind died down and the meadow grass that had been crumpled under the couple's weight slowly sprang back to straightness, and in the end there was no evidence that they had even been there.  
  
--  
  
END CHAPTER!  
  
Next time... the end of a tale or a beginning of a new one?  
  
Questions and comments should be sent to one of the emails below! Check out my websites... and tell me what you think please.  
  
RingPrincess  
  
ring_princess@hotmail.com   
  
ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
http://www.thetenchireviewer.net/rp  
  
http://www.thetenchireviewer.net 


	9. Epilogue

A/N Tenchi Muyo! is owned by AIC and Pioneer and not by me. (ending dry and dull disclaimer)  
  
The ideas in this story are mine though and if you'd like to use or borrow them, contact me first at ring_princess@hotmail.com or ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
Thanks to JohnnyG for editting this overly long story and to Netserfer for reviewing at The Tenchi Reviewer.net!  
  
Tenchi Muyo Saga One: Fate of Empires  
  
Epilogue  
  
By RingPrincess  
  
The scarlet gem in D3's forehead glowed gently as he made his face appear into Tokimi's dimension. She had summoned him again from his watching.   
  
"When will things be ready, D3?" Her voice was childlike.   
  
D3 couldn't bow or lower his eyes like he should as he was only a face, but he managed to sound sufficiently humble. "Shortly milady. Your sisters make their moves."  
  
"What of the boy?"  
  
D3 didn't speak for several moments. He stared at the stars until he could find something suitably neutral. "Things have changed."  
  
"With the boy?" Tokimi's sweet tones rose in inquiry. "How odd."  
  
"We cannot explain it, though everything with this boy is odd."  
  
"There are many things you cannot explain," a third voice said from nearby. A young man strode from the shadows. His face was marked with the green leaves like his Lady's, strangely going well with his bright teal hair and lilac eyes. "And frankly, I tire of it."  
  
"You tire of a lot of things, very quickly." D3's voice was heavy and he sighed. "Time, events, places are all changing rapidly." He paused. "You must understand that for our plans to come to pass, events-"  
  
"Yeah, yeah." Z grimaced. "I've heard it before." He ran a hand through his hair, his fingers passing over the two locks that were the same color as his eyes.   
  
"Then why haven't you listened?" Tokimi's voice was clipped. "All of the trouble that I went to save you." She sighed.  
  
Z glared at the goddess. "I want to meet him."   
  
"You shall meet him, one day." Tokimi narrowed her eyes.  
  
Z's face froze and he looked away from her. Clearly thinking about something and not very happy about his conclusions. D3 watched, blue metallic eyes could not show emotion and he was glad of it, but he was worried.   
  
"His power?" Tokimi paused. "The boy only has three blades still?"  
  
D3 returned his focus to Tokimi. He served her willingly, something she was apt to forget. "Three blades only, my lady. He has not matured-"  
  
"Then this dimension is still good for our plans." She waved a hand, dismissing him and whatever his words would have been.  
  
D3 vanished from her sight. His surrogate gem going dark, but remained there until he was called again. He didn't technically reappear anywhere, just transferred his consciousness to another gem. He acknowledged the space vista and its brightly outlined figures with a corner of his attention. His thoughts were still on the face of an angry young man. The brows furrowed, jaw clenched, arms crossed and not looking at what had once been the center of his universe.  
  
Lady Tokimi  
  
--   
  
END STORY!  
  
Alas it is the end of a tale... coming soon... Tenchi Muyo Saga Two: War of Empires!  
  
Questions and comments should be sent to one of the emails below! Check out my websites... and tell me what you think please.  
  
RingPrincess  
  
ring_princess@hotmail.com   
  
ring_princess2001@yahoo.com  
  
http://www.thetenchireviewer.net/rp 


End file.
